Analysis:
My main reason for this (masochistically long) scene cut is
to look at why Vax attacked Raishan. I’ve included a handful of other scenes
that also show how Vox Machina felt about Raishan. They show that no one trusts Raishan. They were all
keenly aware, from the beginning, that the moment Thordak died they were going
to get into a fight with Raishan.
First, let’s go back to Vox Machina’s first conversation
with Raishan in Ep70. Nobody trusts her, even Raishan says not to at 0:13:15.
Examples are at: 0:12:59, 0:20:47, 0:23:58, 0:24:57, 0:27:56, 0:29:37, 0:31:52,
0:34:26, 0:38:10, 0:38:54, 0:40:10, 0:45:17, 0:46:43, 0:49:11, 0:50:05, 0:52:41,
0:54:32, 0:56:10, 1:00:44, 1:01:41, 1:06:05, 1:08:50, 1:10:51, & 1:11:43.
That’s 24 instances where they say they do not trust Raishan. They constantly
antagonize her during the entire negotiation. Percy continually seizes on any
leverage he can get over her to secure their position a little longer. They
outright threaten Raishan to her face eight times, and she threatens back twice.
Examples are at 0:19:18, 0:30:17, 0:30:52, 0:31:00, 0:33:10, 0:33:43, 0:41:59, 0:42:30,
0:44:14, & 0:59:30. Percy outright says they will turn on each other the
moment Thordak is dead at 0:30:17, 0:31:00, & 0:33:43. That’s not counting
the constant hostility they all display through their body language.
Another constant in Ep70 is that they do not trust that Raishan wants from
Thordak what she claims. Grog 0:34:26, Percy 0:45:17, Vax 0:54:32 & 1:08:50,
everyone at 0:56:10, and Vex 1:06:05. If anyone has any pretense that Vox Machina
was not going to turn on Raishan the moment the opportunity presented itself,
This mistrust is exactly why Percy stabbed Raishan in Ep73 1:45:44.
Ep70 at 31:53, Sam asks to “do a perception check to make sure this being
is actually in the room, and is not just some sort of phantom.” Matt has
him roll and insight check, Scanlan gets a 19, and Matt says, “The entity
you see before you does appear to be physically present, as to your knowledge.
No one’s touched it or attempted to, but it does seem to be present with
you.” Taliesin noticeably picked up on the implication. In Ep70 0:42:54,
Percy tells Keyleth, “The only reason I am stopping you from doing this,
and swear this is the truth, is ‘cause this is my home.” In Ep73 1:37:28, Percy asks, “What
of Whitestone? We put the city at great risk. How much risk are we willing to
take?” 1:37:37 Vax replies, “Percy, everywhere is at great risk right
now.” At 1:44:11, Percy has a nearly silent conversation with Keyleth. Percy
whispers something to her, and nudges her with his shoulder. Keyleth asks,
“Now?” Percy, “Yes. What do you think?” Keyleth looks at Raishan,
back to Percy, and says, “You know what I think.” Percy nods. And so,
at 1:45:44, Taliesin, full of dread, says, “I slowly walk around the
table, thinking hard about it. And… I stab Seeker Asum three times in the back with
my sword.” At that moment, Percy chose to hedge a terrible bet. In the
room sat most of their closest, strongest allies. Either he was going to start
a fight that he’d accepted would destroy the home he’d worked so long and hard
to save, in the hope that all their allies could take Raishan down, or he’d
reveal Raishan’s fraud. It was ridiculously risky, but he’d listened to his
friends and accepted the risk. And he clearly did it for Keyleth, who
encouraged him to do it.
At 1:38:46, Percy fucked up the angle of a piercing shot
through a fire elemental and Thordak, and hit Grog as well. At 3:05:29, Raishan
cast Chain Lightening at Thordak, capitalizing on the idea of friendly fire to
hit Vax, who was on Thordak’s head. But Vox Machina knows Chain Lightening is a
targeted spell, because Keyleth uses it.
At 3:08:57, Keyleth confirmed that Raishan hit Vax deliberately by casting
Chain Lightening on Thordak, which didn’t hit Vax. Matt was trying
to use misdirection by “arguing the rules” to make Raishan’s attack look
like friendly fire, but Vox Machina caught it. On Reddit, Matt
confirmed it was a deliberate attack. Raishan’s Chain Lightening attack
happened less than a minute (in game time) before Vax attacked her.
Vax has consistently been hostile to
Raishan. In Ep70, his questions and body language are full of mistrust and
hostility. When Keyleth lashes out at Raishan, Vex looks over at Keyleth
worryingly, but also at Vax, sensing his outright and increasing hostility. Liam
was very in character through most of Ep79, which makes reading his body
language as Vax’s pretty sound. Vax was colder, more calculating,
and more methodical during the Thordak fight than he ever has been. Vex is
trying not to attack out of vengeance, she’s trying to set that aside. But Vax
literally took Vengeance Paladin. He knew Thordak killed his mother, destroyed his city, and he
wanted to destroy him.
Taking a step further back, look at Percy
after the fiasco of the feast for Briarwoods, his first face to face encounter
with the killers of his parents. Percy
had just seen his own quest for vengeance nearly kill his friends. He’d watched
the situation get out of hand, and the consequences of the Briarwood’s
escaping. By the time they fought the Broker, Percy was clearly losing it. He
gave into his rage and took out all his anger out
Raishan approaches Thordak at 3:56:40. It’s
been less than a minute since Vax just very viciously killed his Mother’s
killer. He’s also clearly in great distress. That rage isn’t going to subside immediate.
It is almost certainly clouding his judgement as much as it clouded Percy’s. Both
Vax and Vex’s body language are full of mistrust for Raishan. They hold their
actions until things with Raishan got aggressive. At 3:58:42, Vax asks, through
the earpiece, “Keyleth? You tell me.” At 3:59:49, Keyleth, scared,
through the earing, says, “Don’t let her touch him.” At 3:59:31, Raishan
starts casting her spell on Thordak. Vax is thinking about every mistrustful
theory they’ve had about Raishan’s intentions for that spell. He’s thinking
about everything she knows about them. He’s thinking about everything Vox
Machina has said about turning on Raishan. He’s thinking about how Raishan isn’t in her lair, and they’re immune to her poison because of Hero’s Feast. But mostly, he’s thinking about Keyleth.
Vengeance for the woman he loves, extending off the adrenaline and anger of his
own vengeance, and enhanced by the oath he swore as a paladin.
Vax didn’t make a hasty decision. He made a
decision they’d all made from the beginning. He’d already resigned himself to
death, giving away many of his non-combat possessions in Ep70 and Ep73. He’d
made enough peace with their doom that he’d pushed Vex towards Percy in Ep72,
even though he doesn’t fully trust Percy. Ep73 1:08:11,
he gives Simon to Kynan and asks him to watch out for Casandra, trying to
prepare for a future they don’t come back from. He made a very calculated,
hedged bet for the last best chance they would ever get against Raishan. Vax
made the only choice he really could. And hats off to Liam for choosing
roleplaying over perfect strategy.
Ep79 is hands down the best fight the cast ever played. They
were completely in the moment as their characters. It becomes a brilliant
fiasco because the cast is totally on point, in control, and playing to their
truth. “In the moment” means you’re blind, you act on impulses,
you’re most prejudice, and you’re caught in a whirlwind of adrenaline &
strong emotions. You respond to what you can see, and what you think you is
about to happen, always influenced by your fears. Everyone did that perfectly. There’s
no real perfect battle. There’s a perfect fiasco you hope tilts enough in your
favor you make it out. That’s why plans don’t last. It’s very easy in D&D,
sitting safely, with time to make the perfect decision. It’s very hard to make
the perfect, correct bad decision. I’m glad we were scared. I’m glad people
fucked up. I’m glad it was a fiasco because of people’s possibly unjustified
fears. Because that’s real. Perfection isn’t real. Perfection isn’t most
artists’ goal. The goal of art is to find truth truer than life, to explore and
explain it. Ep79 showed that the cast of Critical Role has made true art from
D&D.
I you like this transcript, please consider donating to Critical Role Transcripts, @CRTranscript, to help them provide
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Transcript method notes: http://otdderamin.tumblr.com/post/153539301510/a-note-on-my-transcription-method
Scenes:
Full episode: http://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-episode-79-thordak/
Full Scene runs: 3:14:42 to 4:17:00 sans break
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=11682
1. Larkin is not with you – 22:51
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=1371
2. Thordak killed the Twin’s mom confirmed 46:01
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=2761
3. Raishan Enters the Fray 1:00:42
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=3642
4. My friends are gonna fucking kill you 1:29:44
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=5384
5. Percy friendly fire 1:38:46
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=5926
6. Only Sam “trusts” Raishan 2:27:36
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=8856
7. Raishan his Vax with Chain Lightening 3:05:29
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=11129
8. Keyleth Casts Chain Lightening at Thordak, Vax takes no damage 3:08:57
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=11337
9. Thordak flies into the hole, Vax rides along 3:14:42 to 3:22:24
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=11682
10. Clean up crew 3:38:05 to 3:51:21
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=13085
11. Raishan Flies into the hole 3:51:20 to 3:56:36
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=13880
12. Vex and Vax hold their actions, watching Raishan 3:56:36 to 3:59:30
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=14196
13. Raishan casts her spell on Thordak, Vax decides 3:59:31 to 4:11:05
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=14371
14. Vex, Vax, and Keyleth follow Raishan into the chamber 4:11:06 to 4:17:00
https://youtu.be/THyXWq5iS0k?t=15066
Full Scene Transcript: I have it, but I will not be posting
it due to the amount of time it covers. I feel that would be impinging on Fair
Use and I respect Critical Role too much to be that jerk. I hope one day
Critical Role Transcripts can use it to make closed captioning.
1. Larkin is not with you
22:51 Matt:
“In all of your focus, and all of your arrival, and the crawl into this,
and Thordak,”
Travis: “On, no.”
Matt: “none of you noticed that Larkin is not with
you.”
Laura: “No surprise there!”
Laura: “Piece of shit.”
Keyleth: “Piece of shit.”
Laura: “God! I’m really sure that she’s going to fuck
us.”
2. Thordak killed the Twin’s mom confirmed
46:01 Matt of
Vex: “So as you rush past, looking up into the face of the creature that
you know for certain seeing it there, this is the creature that brought your
mother to her end, and half the city of Byroden to the south. And as the anger
swells into you and mixes with the surge of adrenalin in your body, and you
don’t even feel the momentum, your hands just instinctually go through all the
motions of training, all the years you just fwuph, fwuph, as each arrow
target’s loosed, there’s this fuzz, this numbness around, as your hatred is
focused, so clear, on this drag’s head. And then shweup, the air rushes back to
your lungs, and you slam your back into the wall,” two heavy breaths,
“preparing for your next round.”
3. Raishan Enters the Fray
1:00:42 Matt:
“At this point, you see now, you watch as through the clouds, this winged
figure comes, and-”
Liam: “Get ’em girl.”
Laura: Mother-!“
Liam: “Look how easy she is.”
Matt: “Lands on this distant building,”
Laura: “Now,”
Marisha: “Is she going to fucking help us!?”
Laura: “moment of truth! Moment of truth!”
Sam: “This is it!”
Marisha: “Fuckin’ help us!”
Matt: “As the impact happens, you watch as Thordak
turns and grins.”
Thordak, “There you are. Oh, you’re going to taste so
good.”
Matt: “Raishan grins from the side.”
Raishan: “Not to worry, my King.”
Sam: “Oh shit, that doesn’t sound good.”
Laura: “I can’t tell what she’s gonna do!”
Sam: “Is she lying? She’s a deceitful one.”
Liam: “Stupid tension play.”
Matt, who’s been looking something up in the book: “At
this point she going to–hold up- ah, there we go there’s the spell sheet;
yay!–she is going to go ahead and move right there. Gets right up onto the
building that you guys are hiding behind. As you feel the rubble and rock
tumble around you, you look up and you can see the giant leathery-green wings
unfurl. She inhales her chest, expanding,”
Sam: “Oh god, oh god, oh god…”
Matt mimics a dragon’s breath weapon. Everyone screams in
delight.
Matt: “and you see a giant cloud of poisonous gas
released in the direction of Thordak.”
4. My friends are gonna fucking kill you
1:29:44 Liam:
“Curve over his- Oh! No! Sword’s in his head,”
Vax: “My friends are gonna fucking kill you today you
FUCK!” Liam mimics wrenching out the sword.“
Liam: “Reach over his head, and away.”
Matt: “The blade, which has jammed itself in the
cheekbone under the eye of the dragon, as you draw it out, there’s a streak of
dragon blood, and the dragon’s just,”
Thordak: Angry roar turning into a deranged laugh
Matt: “You arc over. As you do, he snaps, reaches up
with his jaws,” he mimics snapping jaws with his arms, “reaches up to
try and bite you.”
…
Matt: “The jaws snap in the air, just as you coast
through with your wings. And where are you-?”
Liam: “I’ll slam down, if I can, behind the building,
behind his big, fat ass.”
Laura: “I whisper on the earing,”
Vex: “That’s my brother! That’s my brother.”
…
Percy, through the earing: “Vax, it might be worth
taking a peek in that crater when you get a second.”
Vax, through the earing: “Working on it, working on
it.”
5. Percy friendly fire
1:38:46 Taliesin:
“I’m going to try a couple things. I’m going to do a piercing shot on the
fire elemental, which I think I can do. I’m going to start moving in a
northerly direction. I’ll take one or two steps south-west, I suppose, to you.
Yeah.”
Matt: “There?”
Taliesin: “Yeah, that’ll do it.”
Matt: “Okay.”
1:39:14 Taliesin:
“And I’m going to do a piercing shot.”
Matt: “Okay.”
Taliesin: “And that burns a grit.” Rolls,
“That’ll do. That’s 25 to hit the fire elemental.”
Matt: “25 hits.”
Taliesin: “And now I have to roll again for
Thordak?”
Matt: “Well, you have to decide whether or not the
piercing shot is affecting Kima or Grog. Because it’s a straight line and it
hits, depending on how you angle it, you’re either hitting Kima, or you’re
hitting Grog.”
Taliesin: “Really?”
Matt: “Yep.”
Travis: “I’m just saying Kima isn’t attached to a human
being. Just saying.”
Taliesin: “Kima’s not short enough that’ll go right
over her head?”
Matt: “Nope.”
Sam: “Through her head.”
Matt: “Well, as per the rules as designed, no.”
Taliesin: “Yeah. Okay.”
Travis: “I do love Kima, got nothing against her, just
looking out for myself right now.”
Sam: “Not a real person.”
1:40:10 Matt:
“She’s parkouring off of the damaged wall, trying to get into the fray
with the dragon, and happens to catch where the bullet would be going.”
Taliesin: “Okay, that’s happening apparently.”
Marisha: “Are you shooting Kima?”
Taliesin: “It’s either Kima or Grog. Although, Grog
takes half damage.”
Matt: “This is true.”
Travis: “Yeah, okay, come on.”
Taliesin: You take half damage.“
Matt: “So Grog it is?”
Marisha: “So how did this happen?”
Taliesin: “I fucked up.
Laura: “His head is so high! How are you hitting
Grog?”
Travis: “It’s in the rules.”
Taliesin: “It’s in the rules. I- Yeah, I made a-”
Matt: “In theory, from this angle, to hit the fire
elemental and Thordak, it’s not high
enough.”
Laura: “Oh! The fire elemental.”
Matt: “20 against Grog hits.”
Travis: “Yeah, it hits.”
Taliesin: “Alright. Damnit.”
Matt: “And roll against Thordak.”
Marisha: “You’re trying to shoot through
everybody.”
Taliesin: “And no. I can’t have a misfire once I’ve
already hit the first one?”
Matt: “Correct. Only the initial attack can
misfire.”
Taliesin: “So that’s a 15, that doesn’t…”
Matt: “Yeah.”
Sam: “You only
hit Grog.”
Taliesin: “I only hit Grog. Well, no, I hit the fire
elemental, too.”
Matt: “Go ahead and roll damage once.”
Taliesin: “Yeah, I hit the fire elemental,
though.”
6. Only Sam “trusts” Raishan
2:27:36 Sam,
after Raishan attacked Thordak: “Ah, that’s good! That’s our girl!”
Taliesin, oh, that’s ours, okay.“
Sam: “That’s our girl, that’s our dragon.”
Taliesin: “For the moment.”
Sam: “We have exactly one ally dragon in this fight
right now.”
Taliesin: “Who’s going to turn on us at any
moment.”
Liam shakes his head at Sam.
Travis: “Don’t you- I will pop all your knuckles.”
Sam: “No, we do, she’s great, she’s great.”
Laura: “I do not understand you right-”
Travis: “I will pop all your knuckles right now.”
Liam, towards Sam: “Last thing we do in this fight is
all turn on you.”
Marisha: “The last thing we do is we die. We see a
Bronze Dragon show up.”
Laura: “We’re all dead on the ground and Scanlan is
like,” joyfully spreads out her arms and grins.
7. Raishan his Vax with Chain Lightening
3:05:29 Matt:
“Raishan does not get her breath back, however she is going to utilize
chain lightening.”
Matt clearly looks up the spell, and scans it.
Marisha: “Yeah, I want to see how this works.”
Sam: “Oh, Raishan.”
Laura: “It’s going to have to hit us. Won’t that hit
us? No, she controls what it hits.”
Sam: “She’s still on our side, right?”
Taliesin: “For another round or two.”
Marisha: “Yeah…”
Matt: “Alright, Chain Lightening: Dexterity Saving
Throw. That’s a success for Thordak.”
Sam: “Still takes some damage.”
Matt: “Trying to roll this quickly here, sorry.”
Mumbles to himself as he reads.
Liam: Travis, and Taliesin are watching Matt like
something’s fishy. Laura’s is deep listening mode.
Matt: “Okay. So, that is halved. Oh, no wait, halved is
21- no, that’s 18 points of lightening damage.”
3:06:22 Matt: “Vax, make a dexterity saving
throw.”
From their body language and expressions, all the players
immediately catch that that shouldn’t be happening.
Travis: “8 seconds too late.”
Liam: “I’m going to use Luck. Good time to use Luck.
26.”
Matt: “26, okay. You suffer 18 points of lightening
damage.”
Liam: “Okay.”
Matt: “As the bolt of energy that strikes Thordak, then
arcs into you because you’re right next to it.”
8. Keyleth Casts Chain Lightening at Thordak, Vax takes no damage
3:08:57 Marisha:
“And then I’m going to do Chain Lightening on Thordak.”
Matt: “Okay.”
Liam, conspiratorially: “Yeaaah!” He starts
watching Matt with a “what are you going to do here?” grin.
Marisha is also studying Matt closely while fidgeting
(unusual for her).
Sam: “Oh! Another Chain!”
Laura: “Nice!”
Matt: “Alrighty. Thordak’s save is… 19.”
Marisha: Gasps. “Fail, motherfucker!”
Matt: “Thordak’s going to use his second…”
Sam: “Legendary resistance.”
Matt: “Legendary resistance to make it.”
Liam, head cocked to the side with “game’s up
smile”, softly but snidely: “Do I get to do anything?”
Marisha: “Fine. That’s fine.”
Matt pointing to Liam, then Marisha: “One second, roll
damage.”
Liam narrows his eyes, then nods towards Matt with a smug,
“I knew it,” grin. He’s a bit alarmed at the amount of damage Marisha
roles, but is scrutinizing Matt, to see if he’ll end up taking it. Most of his
body language says, “Gig’s up, we’ve got your shit figured out.” But
there are a couple brief flashes of doubt at high numbers or reactions.
[Marisha roll’s a “hateful” amount of damage: 48.
Sam tries to be “helpful” on the math.]
3:10:09 Matt:
“So halved, that is 24 points of lightening damage.”
Marisha, sarcastically faking confusion: “And there’s
no one else around within 30 feet of him other than Raishan.”
Matt: “Raishan’s not even in that range.”
Marisha: “No one else?”
Matt: “Yeah.”
Marisha: “Well… Okay, I do that.”
Liam gives Matt a wide “you clever, deceitful
bastard” grin.
Pretty sure Laura and Travis are also entirely aware of what
Keyleth just confirmed. Laura says something to Travis that might be,
“Shithead.”
9. Thordak flies into the hole, Vax rides along
3:14:42 Matt:
“Thordak, who is physically falling apart at this point, sections just
sloughing off, and the whole experience has been sending his physical… his
whole physical form is wrecked right now–the word escapes me that I was
looking for–is going to go into a full flight.”
Liam: “I’m riding him.”
Matt: “You riding him?”
Liam: “Yeah.”
Matt: “Alright.”
[Everyone but Taliesin and Sam are alarmed by this plan,
Taliesin argues it’s a good idea.]
Liam: “Shit yeah, I’m riding him. Fuck this guy.”
[Matt moves the Thordak mini to the hole.]
Matt: “Double dash into the dark hole within.”
Vex, very worried, whispered through the earing: “Vax,
be careful!”
3:15:35 Matt:
“You need to go ahead and roll a strength saving throw to try and maintain
grip as the dragon goes to a full dive.”
3:15:42 Liam:
“I’ll use my last luck. So, it was a 15.”
Matt: “15?” He shakes his head wincing.“
Liam: “Nope.”
Matt: “You do manage to make it inside the tunnel, but
you lose your grip and then go into a full tumble, hitting the ground, and
begin-” he makes a rapid roll motion, “it’s a decline, it’s a very,
very, uh… 45° angle downward.”
Liam: “So I’m in there with him?”
Matt: “Ah… yes. Roll an Acrobatics check to stop
yourself.”
Liam: “That is a 25.”
Matt: “25? Okay, so you do tumble and come to a stop.
You don’t take any damage from the fall. And you stop yourself mid tumble, but
it is still a 45° decline into darkness below, and you just watch as the
backend of Thordak’s barely flying form slams into the tunnel, and continues
swooping away.”
Liam: “Do I still see him with darkvision at this
point?”
Matt: “Ahh… He just begins to leave outside your
darkvision.”
Liam: “Okay. Are we still in the same chain of initiative?”
Matt: “As of right now, we are, yes. So, finishing
that, that is Thordak’s go. Vex, You’re up.”
3:16:49 Laura:
“Okay. I run after him, and dive after him, ’cause I saw that. And at the
edge of my movement I wanna… pop out on my broom and get ready to fly down the
hole after.”
3:16:49 Laura:
“Okay. I run after him, and dive after him, ’cause I saw that. And at the
edge of my movement I wanna… pop out on my broom and get ready to fly down the
hole after.”
Matt: “Okay. So you are hasted, so you get down, and
you basically have just enough movement to catch up to your brother.”
Laura: “Okay.”
Matt: “And you get the broom out. You’re both down
there in the darkness by yourselves. You guys watch as the rest of them dive in
the hole. Vax, You’re up.”
3:17:23 Liam:
“How far away from me is he?”
…
Matt: “He’s outside of your darkvision.”
Liam: “Then I am going to use my movement and go 120
feet or until I see him.”
…
3:17:51 Matt:
“Right, so your wings are still out there. Okay. Um, okay. So, yeah, you
begin to come in, you see him just come into your visual range.”
Liam: “Still away from me?”
Matt: “Still away from you.”
Liam: “Then I’m going to use a bonus action to dash,
and hit his back, and land on his back.”
Matt: “Okay. You land on his back.”
Liam: “Attack, attack.”
[Matt rules that Vax doesn’t have advantage due to the
turbulence, so he doesn’t get a sneak attack.]
3:18:41 [Vax’s 1st
attack, Dragon Slayer sword, hit, 21 damage. 2nd attack, Whisper, nat20, 38
damage.]
3:19:50 Matt:
“Okay. How do you want to do this?”
Marisha and Laura, exuberant scream.
Laura: “In the dark, all alone!”
Sam: “In a dark pit!”
Liam: “With Whisper.”
Matt nods.
3:19:59 Liam: I’m
going to shove it in so that my hand disappears from view, so I’m up to my
forearm, and stab as far in as I can reach. I hear the voice of my mother in
the morning.“
Vax, full of grief and rage: ”Fuck you!“ Liam mimics a hard dagger pull back.
Matt: “As the blade plunges into Thordak’s now
sloughing and soft flesh, exposed through a series of wounds and gashes left
behind by your allies, and his form slowly shriveling into its diminutive
space, the dagger cuts cleanly through, and with that force you go all the way
up to the shoulder as you reach inside. As you finish saying your phrase, your
eyes narrow, and you clench your teeth, and as you pull back and yank, there’s
this strange series of low whispers that-” spooky whisper noises,
“into your ears. And as you pull back, you watch as these bits of greyish
energy begin to pour out of the air, coalescing around the blade,” small
swooshing noises, “fitting into the body where you’re currently plunged
within. As you yank outward, you watch at the blade almost has an extended edge
about 10, 15 feet beyond Whisper’s actual end of the blade. It just leaves a giant
wound on the side of Thordak’s body. You don’t even hear an exclamation of pain
as Thordak slowly-” rumbling crash sound, “slams into the ground of
this low, barely-glowing tunnel. Roll an acrobatics check, with
disadvantage.”
Liam: “25.”
Matt: “So with the speed, and impact, and tumbling you
manage to reduce the damage by half.”
[8 damage to Vax]
3:22:14 Matt:
“As you watch Thordak’s form sputter, roll, and then tumble, grinding to a
halt, gathering a bunch of stone, broken rock, and part of the cavern that’s on
the verge of collapsing from the impact of Thordak’s body, now lifeless, still,
in the darkness, in the subterranean tunnel. And we’re going to take a
break.”
[Screaming and cackling from everyone.]
[Liam and Laura fiercely hug each other, and Liam kisses her
on the cheek.]
…
3:23:00 Laura:
“I just want to fly forward, and hug my brother, as he’s just covered in
Dragon guts.”
Sam: “He’s down in the hole.”
Taliesin: “He’s way down in there. It’s a long
flight.”
[Vex and Vax hug fiercely, clinging to her hard, eyes
closed.]
Vex: “You did it.” She kisses the top of his head.
[Vax leans against her, the first time he hasn’t looked
entirely on edge all night.]
Matt: “And now we’ll take a break. See you back here in
a few minutes.”
3:22:24
[Announcements + BREAK + Announcements]
10. Cleanup Crew
3:38:05
Matt: “Alright, so, picking up where we left off, the
rest of you watch as Thordak swooped into the hole that he emerged from,
quickly followed by Vex and Vax. There is still on the field: Raishan just tore
into this lizard man; we have a fire giant that is unscathed currently, bearing
down on the rest of the party; and a wyvern rider back around this wall section
here.”
…
3:38:37 Matt:
“That being the case, the end of that turn there, first up is Lady Kima,
who is pissed that she hasn’t really had a chance to do anything tonight
against flying dragons.”
3:39:04 Matt:
“Kima, watching this giant wail upon Percy pisses her off. She cracks her
neck.”
Kima: “You’re first.”
Matt: “And she leaps down, and she’s going to go ahead
and multi-attack against him.”
[1st attack, Great Weapon Master+ Divine Smite, hits, 42
damage. 2nd attack hits, Great Weapon Master, 24 damage.]
3:40:20 Matt:
“So that fire giants’ already taken a big chunk out of his- Kima just
rushes up and,” he mimics two hefty sword-blows, “and double strikes
with her Holy Avenger, the one cleaving off a piece of his armor, the second
one, as it cuts through, leaving a giant flash of divine energy as it bursts
out the side. Looks up the eyes and says,”
Kima: “Bahamut says, ‘Hi.’”
…
3:41:19 Matt:
“The [fire] giant, who’s watched Percy get pulled away, steps in to get
into melee range with both Kima and Grog.”
Travis laughs, “That’s such a mistake.”
3:41:28 Matt:
“I know. And is going to go ahead and take a strike on each.”
[Attack on Kima hits, 28 damage. Attack on Grog hits, 16 damage.
Grog retaliates for 32 points of damage.]
3:43:04 [Pike
stands up and casts Guiding Bolt, level 4, at the fire giant, but misses.]
3:43:50 Matt:
“The giant sees the flash of light as the bolt comes towards it, out the
corner of its eye, and as it has its blade down, instead it ducks underneath,
using Grog for cover, briefly, as it arcs past it’s shoulder and shoots off
through the cloud, out of sight.”
[Pike casts Healing Word on herself, level 1, for 6 points.]
3:44:42 [Scanlan
moves out from his hidey-hole. Bigby’s Hand is still up, so he moves it to the
fire giant and uses Bigby’s Punch, hits, 34 points of damage. Marisha &
Taliesin fuck up his mental math, getting revenge on Sam for doing the same to
them several times earlier.]
3:45:56 Matt:
“So, as the giant ducks out of the way of the Guiding Bolt streaking past,
it snickers and grins, says something in giant, which you hear what it
says,”
…
3:46:16 Fire
giant: “Insolence. Bow to your king.”
Grog, shaking his head: “Mmm, no…”
3:46:20 Matt:
“As it brings the sword up, while it saw the glimmer of the guiding bolt,
it didn’t see the glimmer of the purple shining fist, as it comes up and just,
WHACK! right across the jaw, dislocating it briefly, as the fist comes back up
and is ready for another round. Still standing, but looking pretty rough.”
[Scanlan swigs a Greater Healing Potion, 10 healing. They
also correct the math on an earlier heal Scanlan did of Pike, putting her at 40
HP, rather than 42.]
3:47:39 [Percy
gets up, puts away Bad News, takes out Animus, and fires three Sharpshooter
shots. 1st shot, hits, 21 damage, plus 4 psychic damage. 2nd shot, hits; Sam
messes up his mental math. “27 points of damage, plus 1 point of psychic
damage to me, ’cause I can’t think.”]
3:48:56 Matt:
“So as the fist clocks him across the face, dislocating the jaw, it stands
up and grabs the jaw and, “mimics resetting the jaw with a crack sound,
“snaps it back into place.” Angry, breathy grunt. “Looks up just
in time for you to come up out of the shadow, and,” mimics two gunshots,
“turning the barrel as you fire, and the first shot hits in the side of
the throat, and blows open the neck. You see blood begin to gout out, and it
reaches up with a hand,” pained gasp, “but it’s to no use as the
other shot takes out the right eye, blowing out the back of the giant’s head as
it falls back.”
…
3:49:32 Taliesin:
“I’m now going to start making my way to the- I’m going to start running
to the pit. With what little movement I have ’cause I got up.”
Matt: “Okay. That ends Percy’s turn.”
3:49:44 Matt:
“Top of the round, the lair actions do not function, however, you watch as
the skyship Dyra is still rotating around, there’s still Wyvern’s attacking,
you hear the distant sound of lightening cracks, as well, and you hear, very,
very distantly, what sounds like a… sorry Internet– a cacophony of
voices–’cause there’s no other word to describe it–hundreds and hundreds of
voices all shouting combat war cries simultaneously. You have no idea how far
away it is. It’s very, very faint. You just pick it up. You hear the sound of
impacts, of crumbling stone in the distance. There is a battle happening all
throughout the city that is slowly making its way towards your current
location.
3:50:36 Matt:
“Dyra’s turned around and is going to take two shots at Raishan, because
it’s going to fire at whatever dragons are there. Damian was not notified of
anything otherwise.”
[Everybody is pleased Raishan’s getting hit. All three
attacks miss with 8s.]
3:51:06 Matt:
Duzh, duzh, duzh sounds, “All on the ground, and Raishan spins in
place.”
Raishan: “Hng. Call off your dogs! We still have a
deal.”
[Although Vax isn’t there, Liam is staring daggers at
Raishan.]
3:51:18 Percy:
“To the pit! Now!”
11. Raishan Flies into the hole
3:51:20 Matt:
“Which, Raishan at this point is now leaping, and disappears into the
portal, or down into the hole in the ground.”
[Laura wants Raishan to get hit. Taliesin doesn’t want
Raishan getting into shit with Dyra. Travis agrees the pit is a good idea. Sam
thinks the tunnel could go to another place.]
5:51:40 Matt:
“At this point, full speed, that is- 60 feet, yeah. You guys, as you’re
having this moment hugging each other, you hear,” reverberating woosh,
woosh, rumble. “The ground shakes nearby,”
[Vex and Vax, hugging, as they hear the sound of Raishan
swooping in, a look of uncertain trepidation spreads over their faces. They’re
pulled apart by the shaking. Vax twirls his daggers back into a defensive
stance.]
Matt: “as you turn and see, Raishan skids to a halt,
right next to you and the currently smashed corpse of Thordak within the
tunnel.”
Raishan: Sound of her hitting the ground. An almost purring
growl, more indirectly menacing.
[Vex’s body language is cautious.]
[Vax, eyes are narrowed, his body language is alert and
completely on edge.]
Marisha: “Can I say through a headpiece thing, be
like,”
3:52:15 Keyleth:
“Twins, if you’re still alive, I think Raishan’s coming in your
direction.”
Vax, deadpan: “Uh, thanks for that.”
Matt: “Raishan is just watching both of you as she
begins to walk towards Thordak’s corpse, and goes,”
Raishan, grinning: “You’ve done well.” Matt mimics
the sound of heavy footsteps.
Vax: “Yeah? What now.”
3:52:36 Marisha:
“We’re hauling ass that way.”
Taliesin: “Bookin’ with my spider walk. Running down
the ceiling upside-down.”
Matt: “So this wyvern…”
3:52:47 [Vax
starts restlessly toying with the communication earing, looking increasingly
edgy and agitated.]
3:52:48 Travis:
“Not me, I’m putting out that last fire.”
Matt: “80-foot flying-”
3:52:55 Vax,
through the earing, trying to sound casual, but clearly nervous: “Hey, uh,
Kiki, what are you thinking?”
Matt: “This wyvern swoops in.”
3:52:02 Vax, more
demanding: “Keyleth?”
Matt: “It was left earlier that was after you. It’s
going to swoop in and attempt to make two strikes at Kima.”
3:53:08 Keyleth:
“We’re headin’ your way.”
[Vax Continues to hold onto the earing, toying with it,
looking like he wants to say more.]
[Wyvern 1st attack, miss. 2nd attack, miss.]
[Rider 1st attack, miss. 2nd attack, miss.]
3:53:18 Matt:
“Kima’s just like, ting! Deflecting, getting against the wall as the spear
shoots by and the blade comes down from the rider. She strikes with the sword
and stops it in mid-air.”
Kima laughs through gritted teeth.
Matt: “That ends it’s go. Keyleth, you’re up.”
3:53:36 Scanlan,
through the earing: “Keyleth, there’s a wyvern on the field, or you can
just ignore it and go into the hole.”
[Vax’s body language, very closed, hands up and together
prayerfully, with a close-eyed grimace, suggests he’s seriously struggling with
a decision.]
Marisha: “Fuck that wyvern. I say,”
Keyleth, through the earing: “Everyone in the
hole!”
Marisha: “And I head towards the hole.”
Percy, through the earing: “We’re going to need light
down there.”
…
3:54:03 Marisha:
“I’ll dash.”
[Vax looks more calculating again.]
Matt: “So you just begin to make it into the
hole.”
3:54:12 Matt:
“That brings us to Jarret’s turn. Jarrett is going to turn the corner.
He’s like,”
Jarrett: “So it’s gone? Okay, good.”
Matt: “he loads the crossbow, sees the wyvern and
goes,”
Jarrett: “Aw, are you- no… Are you- seriously?”
[Two shots against the wyvern. 1st attack hits. 2nd attack,
hits. 19 damage.]
[Most of the party is supporting of Jarret, realizing he’s
very outclassed by Thordak, and the wyvern’s more his level. Travis disagrees,
saying, “Yeah, keep making excuses for him, that’s cool.”]
3:54:55 Matt:
“So that ends his turn. He takes two shots; both sink into the wyvern.
Both bolts done-” mimics a wyvern snarling in pain. “That will end
his go.”
3:55:04 Matt:
“Gilmore, recognizing the circumstance here, and everyone’s rushing in
there, he’s going to go ahead and, okay however, heh,”
Gilmore: “Actually, me first.”
Matt: “And he Dimension Doors to the edge and begins to
charge in after you guys. That brings us to Grog.”
3:55:25 Travis:
laughs, “I want to kill all the things that are alive.”
Matt, laughing: “Okay, so you move into melee with the
wyvern and the rider.”
3:55:37 (Liam,
near silent, to Marisha: “Hey? Do you want me to do it?”)
3:55:43 (Marisha,
quietly: “Uh… Kill her real hard.”)
(Liam, very quietly: “Alright.”)
(Marisha smiling warmly, “Yeah.”)
[Grog 1st attack, hits, 36 damage.]
3:55:38 Matt:
“We’ll say for the sake of brevity, you’re going to wipe out the
wyvern.”
Taliesin: “You’re wearing it like a paste.”
Matt: “’Cause you’re a giant Grog.”
3:56:04 Travis:
“Is the lizard-man left?”
Matt: “The lizard man is left, yes.”
Travis: “Can I give him the option to run?”
Matt: “If you want to.”
…
Matt: “So you just finish cleaving the Wyvern down, it
falls over, and the lizard-man’s like, ” snarling-hiss.
Travis: “Yeah, I just do this.” Points stoically
at the lizard-man.
Matt: body language, the lizardman recoils in fear. “It
looks conflicted.”
Travis: “You’re at the Crossroads, bro. The
Crossroads.”
12. Vex and Vax hold their actions, watching Raishan
Matt: “Vex. It’s your go.”
3:56:39 Laura:
“Okay…”
3:56:40 Matt:
“You have Raishan,” heavy footsteps, “stepping over to Thordak’s
body. Just watching you closely.”
3:56:48 Vex:
“What are you doing?”
3:56:50 Raishan:
“Exactly what we talked about. Learning his secret.” Heavy footsteps.
3:56:56 Vex:
“I’m going to keep my hand ready to attack, and hold my action until
anything gets aggressive with Raishan.”
Matt: “Okay.”
Taliesin: “What do you see down there?”
3:57:09 Percy,
whispering through the earpiece: “What’s happening? What do you see?
What’s in the room?”
3:57:12 Vex,
chipper, through the earing: “Thordak is dead.”
3:57:13 Percy:
“What’s in the room?”
Laura: “What do I see around me?”
3:57:16 Matt:
“The tunnel that you’re in has been at a steady decline. It’s rounded off
a little bit. And it begins to open up maybe 70 feet ahead of you. Actually,
with your darkvision, you would just barely see it begin to open. It looks like
there’s an actual chamber ahead of all of you guys, but you haven’t reached it
yet.”
3:57:39 Laura:
“I’m gonna- Okay. I’m gonna use my movement
to back away from Raishan towards the chamber.”
Matt: “Okay.”
Laura: “But I’m going to hold my attack, until I think
it’s aggressive.”
5:57:54 Matt:
“Okay. So, as you move in you can see there’s a very, very faint glow of
orange and red in the room. And the whole tunnel here just has a very, very,
very concentrated natural burning chemical smell to it. A lot of sulfur-type,
very putrid, or pungent smells. And the glow you can now see, there is a lava
flow that is coalescing in the center of this room, or at least is pouring
through, and it looks like it’s bisecting this room. You don’t make out much
more detail than that at this distance, but you do see this chamber does have
an actual flow of liquid rock. Vax.”
3:58:42 Vax,
through the earpiece: “Keyleth? You tell me.
Marisha mimics running.
Keyleth, out of breath through the earpiece: “What’s a-
What’s going on? What’s she doing?”
Vax: “You tell me.”
Keyleth, flustered: “What- Ah- Just- Ah- Describe the
scene.”
Vax, forcefully: “Hit or wait?”
Keyleth: “Fa! Ah! Wait, wait, wait ’till I’m there.
Wait ’till I’m there.”
Vax, can’t make out what she’s saying: “What?”
Keyleth: “Wait ’till I’m there!” Mimics more
panting running.
Liam: “I’m going to hold my turn until Keyleth
acts.”
Matt: “Okay.”
3:59:12 Matt:
“Pike, Scanlan, you guys all follow suit.”
Sam: “Yeah.”
Liam, in a Pike voice: “Yeah!”
Matt: “Okay, at a full run you guys can get- your tiny
feet, you can get kind of up towards the edge there.”
Taliesin: “I would probably- I’m a full run on the
roof.”
Matt: “Right, Percival, you get up there and
inside.”
13. Raishan casts her spell on Thordak, Vax decides
3:59:31 Matt:
“Raishan, comes up to the body of Thordak, and you see that she reaches up
under one of her scales, and pulls out what looks like a small leather case, pops
open the case,”
Marisha: “I say,”
3:59:49 Keyleth,
scared, through the earing: “Don’t let her touch him.”
Matt: “And sits back and pulls open what looks to be a
somewhat-weathered scroll. And she just starts reading off of it.”
Whispered magical gibberish.
Marisha: “No no no no no no. Get ready. Go! Go!
Go!”
4:00:06 Liam,
tossing his hand forward: “Attack! I’m attacking her. She acted. She said,
‘Don’t touch.’ I said I’ll base it off of Keyleth, so I’m attacking. I’m going
to interrupt that.”
Travis: “Don’t you want to see what happens?”
Liam, flatly: “No.”
4:00:17 [Clarifying
if Keyleth could have said “Don’t let her touch him.” It’s determined
that statement’s not related to line of sight.]
4:00:26 Matt:
“She hasn’t touched him yet. But you’re attacking on your own
instinct.”
4:00:27 Liam:
“If I heard, ‘Don’t let her touch him,’ and she’s doing that. Those two
things mean the same thing to me. She’s doing something. Yes.”
[Vax makes a dexterity check to see if he’s able to react to
the spell being cast in time. He makes it. Liam uses Vax’s last luck of the
day, and clarifies that he misspoke earlier and had two then.]
[Vax throws three daggers. 1st attack, Whisper, hits, 15
damage. 2nd attack, misses. 3rd attack, hits, 9 damage.]
4:02:37 Matt:
“The first attack was 15… Okay, maintains concentration. Maintains
concentration.”
…
4:02:49 Matt:
“Okay. So, at both dagger kinda, ” mimics getting hit with a dagger
on either side of the body, “you watch as the eyes, as it’s muttering from
the scroll, not both her eyes, but one of the eyes, turns and faces you–”
Laura: “Like a chameleon.”
Matt: “yeah–and narrows,” indicates the eye.
“The scroll finishes, and, fwooph, turns to ash. Similar to something
you’ve seen before…”
Laura: “Oh no!”
Matt: “You watch as Thordak’s corpse. Which is
currently buried into the rock, with the face to the side, the breath filters
into the mouth,” raspy groan.
Laura: “Oh, it’s like Speak with Dead. Okay.
Okay.”
4:03:29 Matt:
“the body still, motionless. You recognize the similar or adjacent magic
to the Speak with Dead-”
Liam: “We’ve seen Pike do it.”
Matt: “Yes.”
…
4:03:49 Matt:
“So, as soon as that finishes, Raishan, the other eye flickers over. Now
both eyes are on you. She says,”
4:03:59 Raishan,
glaring at Vax, in a low growl: “Know what you’re doing.”
4:04:05 Vax,
glaring back bristling, direly: “You’re not walking away from this field.
You’re going to die. Maybe I will to. But you. Are going. To die.”
Raishan answers with a quiet, disbelieving scoff. She clicks
her fangs.
Matt, processes several things in his head a few seconds,
then with a cocked grin: “Okay…”
[Everyone looks pretty scared.]
4:04:30 Sam:
“We’re men of our word.” He crosses his arms. “We’re men of
honor.”
4:04:36 Matt:
“Raishan is going to…”
Laura: “She did attack our home.”
Sam: “I’m not saying she’s great.”
4:04:51 Matt:
“I’m trying to see what her reaction’s gonna be… Oh, okay, no, alright,
she feels comfortable with that. She goes,”
4:05:05 Raishan:
“Well then, come and claim me. And just steps away from Thordak. With one
big push of the wings, turns around and coasts into the chamber beyond
you.”
Liam: “Out of sight?”
4:05:22 Matt:
“You can see her form disappear into the darkness. There’s a little bit of
an orange glow in there, but, given that circumstance, yeah, she disappears
into the shadows.”
4:05:46 Laura:
“Did that look aggressive?”
Matt: “She flew away from your brother. But your
brother did throw three daggers into her. And said that she was gonna
die.”
Travis: “Did she ever ask her questions of
Thordak?”
Sam, Taliesin, Liam, and Matt: “No.”
4:05:58 Laura:
“It might not have been the same fucking spell. It could have been
something like it.”
Travis: “He said it looked very similar.”
Laura: “Adjacent, he said.”
Liam: “I’m sure she was just going to ask about cooking
recipes. It’s fine.”
4:06:10 Matt:
“So what are you going to do? Are you going to attack or not? You watched
your brother throw 3 daggers into Raishan and tell that- she’s gonna die. And
then Raishan basically abandons Thordak body and flies off.”
…
4:06:30 Laura,
reluctantly: “Yeah, I’m gonna attack her.”
Matt: “Go for it. Roll your attacks!”
Vax, quietly: “Careful, sis.”
Laura: “Oh no…”
[Laura is struggling with the decision to attack. Travis,
Liam, Sam, and Marisha encourage her to do it. Taliesin’s the only one watching
what she’ll do.]
4:06:45 Laura,
distressed: “This isn’t- this isn’t- about vengeance, though, you
guys.”
[Taliesin smiles at that statement.]
Liam, sarcastically: “She’s secretly really nice.”
Sam: “What is it about?”
Marisha: “It is for Keyleth.”
Matt: “Roll you attacks.”
Liam: “5… 4… 3…2…”
Laura, picking up the dice and rolling them: “I don’t
know…”
[1st attack, miss. 2nd attack, hits, 15 damage. 3rd attack,
nat1.]
Taliesin: “Saddest roll ever.”
Sam: “Saddest attack ever.”
Laura: “And a natural fuckin’ 1. Fenthris can sense my
trepidation.”
Matt: “Apparently! So, roll damage on one arrow
strike.”
Laura: “Okay.”
4:07:25 Matt:
“And it is, your hand’s shaking at this moment and trying to figure out
what to do, and the minute she flies overhead, you release one arrow… pull back
and pull another. The second one is right as she’s over above and it sinks in.
And the third one you fire after, and it just hits the rock ceiling.”
…
4:07:46 Matt:
“Raishan just swoops into the darkness of the chamber beyond. Keyleth, you
just manage to catch up at this point now, at a full run now, this will be your
full turn catching up to Vex and Vax. Or Vax, specifically, Vex is a little bit
beyond. Aggressive stance, Raishan nowhere to be seen, Thordak’s corpse ground
into the dirt.”
4:08:14 Keyleth:
“Where is she?”
4:08:15 Vax,
pointing: “Forward.”
4:08:17 Keyleth,
with trepidation: “Are we going after her, I mean…?”
Vax: “Yes.”
Keyleth: “I run deeper into the hole.”
4:08:26 Matt:
“Okay. Jarret and Gilmore, at this point, manage to catch up to you guys
as well. It will take a while for Grog and Kima to catch up to you guys.”
4:08:39 Travis:
“I didn’t say I was leaving.”
4:08:43 Travis: “There’s a lizard-folk right there.”
4:08:48 Matt: “Alright. Well, Grog, he’s staring at you still
going,” he imitates a low snarl with bared teeth. “
[Grog crushes the lizard-man’s head between his hands, after
making a successful strength check.]
4:09:10 Matt: He imitates crushing a head between his hands.
“Watching… And there is this moment where you’re grabbing its head and it
reaches up,” he imitates the lizardman grabbing onto Grog’s hands to pry
them off, and the squelching, distressed whimpering sounds of the lizard man,
as its head is crushed.
Grog: “Hup, can’t hear you.
Can’t hear you!”
4:09:22 Matt: “And in a very
Riki-Oh type moment, the head just pops outward in a smear of purple
gore.”
Grog: “Oh no! That’s the
show, folks!” He smiles at the blood on his hands. “Alright. Well,
anybody see that?”
Travis: “Who’s here?”
Sam: “My hand is near
you.”
Travis: “Kima’s there, right?”
4:09:43 Matt: “Bigby’s Hand claps the wall in applause.”
Travis, laughing: “I high
five Bigby’s Hand.”
Matt: “He’s looking over a
Kima, and Kima’s spattered with it. She goes,” Kima gives him a thumbs-up
and a big grin.
Grog: “Nice move,
right?”
Kima: “Well done.”
Grog: “Let’s join everybody
else.”
Kima: “Alright,
alright.”
Matt: “So, you go on your
movement… You’re about there at full speed. Kima’s a little slower behind.
She’ll catch up at a full double dash speed there. Jarret… well, everybody else
is moved in. We’ll say at this point, the rest of you make your way into the
tunnel.”
4:10:20 Laura:
“Jarret’s just like,” she gives a dismissive hand gesture.“
Matt: “He can’t do it. He’s having a bad day
today.”
Travis: “He’s burned to shit.”
Marisha, laughing: “We’re killed. Poor Jarret.”
Matt: “Alright, so you guys all just charge in
after…”
Taliesin: “I’m doing the best I can. I can’t see a damn
thing.”
Matt: “No, you guys are far behind.”
Liam: “Yes”
Matt: “So currently, you three are in the lead.”
Liam: “Yes.”
[Hard to tell if the following exchange is in character or
not.]]
4:10:38 Travis:
“Should any of us stay out here in case she wants to come back out?”
Taliesin, to Travis: “No, come on in.”
Travis: “Why not? What if she tries to get out we’ll
all just jump on her and fuck with her.”
4:10:53 Taliesin:
“If she makes her way out, it means we’re all dead. Come on in.
Travis: “Okay.”
Taliesin: “It’ll be fun.”
Travis: “Yeah, alright.”
Taliesin: “Let’s all die together.”
Marisha, deadpan: “We’ll go to the spa
afterwards.”
[Concurrent with the above exchange]
4:10:45 Matt:
“Are you bringing Bigby’s Hand with you?
Sam: “Yeah. For rest of the one minute it works for.
Which isn’t very long, though”
14. Vex, Vax, and Keyleth follow Raishan into the chamber
4:11:06 Matt:
“Okay, so, you guys rush into this chamber now. And the heat in here is…
more immense than anything you’ve felt on the surface. This is the core of the
volcanic surge that Thordak’s presence was pulling upward. And you see within
this flow of lava… I want you guys, the three of you to roll perception checks,
if you can.”
…
4:11:36 Laura:
“Is this with advantage because it’s a dragon related thing?”
Matt: “I’m going to say… Are you looking for Raishan?
Or are you inspecting the room for details?”
Laura: “I don’t know. What am I rolling for?”
Marisha: “I’m looking for Raishan.”
Matt: “I was giving you just the general vicinity of
the room as you scan about.”
[Vax: 31, Vex, 27, Keyleth 25.]
4:12:00 Matt:
“You guys, first thing you notice as you glance around is there are some
alcoves in the side of this chamber where the rock formation’s pulled inward.
And you see set into the stone, and the various bits of fallen rock, and earth,
a handful, somewhat spread out throughout the room, a handful of large, 9-foot
tall, dark, deep crimson red, with crystalline elements to the outside, ovoid
structures.”
…
Matt: “These are…”
Laura, slowly, with dread: “Dragon eggs.”
Matt: “What appear to be some sort of a larger than
normal… elementally altered dragon egg.”
Travis, groaning: “Oh fuck.”
Matt: “5 of them. In the chamber.”
…
4:13:06 Laura:
“Can I see… Can I look back at Thordak? What does it look like? I know
that Raishan, like,” mimics a sharp inhale, “made him do that. Does
it look like there’s anything around him or is he just dead-dead still?”
Matt: “He’s aways back. If you want to try to move back
to him, you can.”
4:13:23 Matt:
“But, with your high perception, you glance up and see in the ceiling
portion of this chamber, where there are a number of these small caverns that
are pressed into the side, you see out of the top, just the slight peaking of
Raishan’s face looking down into the chamber above you. And you watch as the
teeth, there’s something muttering in the mouth, and the teeth grin. As the
ceiling of the room, you watch, distortion in the air above you. And almost
like these small portals kinda,” projectile burst sounds, “open, and
come flying out of them you see four, large, flaming rocks.”
…
4:14:09 Matt:
“These are… massive fiery, meteorite-like boulders that come firing out of
the ceiling of the room.”
4:14:18 Matt:
Large, projectile-hitting sounds. “Slamming into the ground around you.
Exploding in a massive explosion rocking you. All you see is white, and ringing
in your ears, as your bodies are thrown from explosion to explosion. I need the
three of you… to make dexterity saving throws.”
[Vax, 25. Keyleth, 29. Vex, 29.]
4:14:48 Matt:
“Nice! Alright, you guys take half damage…”
Liam: “You good are at the lottery!”
4:14:57 Matt:
“Well, here, let’s do the first part. So,”
Marisha: “Oh boy.”
Matt: “there’s the fire damage… which is 20d6.”
Liam, nervously: “What did we have to beat?”
[The players are very nervous about that amount of damage.]
4:15:09 Matt:
“You had to beat 22.”
Liam: “Zero.”
Matt: “Right, so you take zero damage from this. Both
of you take 63 points of fire damage.”
Laura: “Halved.”
Matt: “Halved to 31. And then you each take 70 points
of bludgeoning damage.”
[Everyone, including Matt, are scared about that amount of
damage.]
[Matt
corrected later that the bludgeoning damage should have been halved to 31
damage. End of a long, intense fight with him trying to keep track of a
ridiculous amount of things, it’s understandable.]
…
4:15:34 Travis to
Laura: “You’re out.”
Matt: “As these flaming, arcane meteors…”
Marisha: “That’s 101 damage.”
Matt: “crash into the ground, detonating, and
destroying a portion of the cavern floor. Lava spatters everywhere, and you
watch,” indicates Liam, “as you duck out of the way, as… Keyleth,
what are you hit points at?”
…
Marisha: “18 points.”
4:6:01 Matt:
“18 points, 18 hit points to that. You watch as your sister is thrown, her
body unconscious, flung in the air like a rag doll as it scatters to one end of
the cavern. You can see the volcanic activity billowing up from the recent
shaking of the room, as bits of the mouton rock are being flung across. As the
green dragon face withdraws within the cave.
[Corrected HP is: Keyleth 69; Vex, 31. Vex is still
standing!]
4:16:26 Matt: And
I think that’s where we’re going to pick up next year.”
[Disbelieving, protesting groaning from the players.]
…
Liam: “2017 to fight this motherfucker!?”
Laura: “I have to find out if I’m for-sure dead.”
Liam: “I got you, I got you!”
Marisha: “I’ve got you!”
Laura: “I’m across the fuckin’ room!”
Liam: “We’ve got you!”
Marisha: “We got you, we got you!”
Liam: “Listen, I can fly 500 feet; I got you!
Please.”
4:17:00
Critical Analysis 