Hello everybody, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. Before we hop into tonight's episode, let's get through some announcements very quickly. First and foremost, we have our fantastic returning sponsor, our friends since the beginning of Campaign 2, D&D Beyond. Sam! →
D&D Beyond just released-- this is actually kind of exciting-- just released the new Creatures section. Users now have a place to add any type of monster stat block for easy reference during play! You can add your favorite wild shape or familiar forms, keep up with your ranger's companion, summoned creatures, mounts, ferrets-- or what do we have, a weasel? →
Followers and more! You can also track hit points and customize the name and stats for all of your creatures! To celebrate, I've crafted a quick little trivia quiz for Laura! We'll start with Laura and bounce around. I searched through D&D Beyond's list of actual familiars listed on their site. I will name four creatures. One of these is actually a board game. The other three are actual D&D familiars. Which is the board game and not a familiar? A) Boggle, B) Juiblex, C) Pudding King, D) Unstable Unicorns. →
I'm going to skip the next one and go straight to Travis. Sorry, Liam, you lose. No, I'll do Liam's, too! One of these is a Kama Sutra position. The other three are beasts! Which is a Kama Sutra position? The Flying Snake, the Curled Flower-- →
Thank you, D&D Beyond, for your sponsorship. Gotta catch 'em all. A couple of other updates: the latest episode of Between the Sheets starring our fantastic Liam O'Brien right here is now available on the Critical Role YouTube. That's youtube.com/criticalrole. →
Make sure to check out this coming Monday on our Twitch channel, twitch.tv/criticalrole, at 7:00pm Pacific to see the next episode of Between the Sheets with our fantastic Sam Riegel. →
I think legally you're not supposed to be? Check that out on Monday, 7:00pm Pacific on our Twitch channel, and the next episode of All Work No Play airs tomorrow, also at twitch.tv/criticalrole, at 7:00pm Pacific time. →
You get to watch these two awesome gentlemen here, as well as the special guest, Stephanie Sheh. →
No, never! Last we left off: The Mighty Nein, following their thread of information, in pursuit of the source of the strange sphere that Fjord had come into the possession of-- that seemed to tie in some way, shape or form to the magical powers he had been slowly learning to control and manifest-- led you to southward to the Menagerie Coast where you commandeered a ship named the Mist, which you then renamed the Mistake, hired a crew and made your way south-southeast towards the island of Urukaxl to follow the apparent source of this note that seemed to have some information about where it was from and where it may go. Upon approaching, you were greeted by a much larger ship, which had shot a warning shot across the bow and demanded you to come meet the captain on their deck. You there met Captain Avantika, who had given you the options of either proving yourselves beneath her and her crew by helping them, putting yourself in danger at her behest, or they would weigh your corpses down with rocks within the nearby bay amongst the reefs. You agreed to give into these demands and an evening's stay within the ship known as the Squalleater. A little bit of thievery went into the cargo hold of the ship while Fjord had been called to the captain's quarters, where the two of you discovered that you had something in common. You both appeared to have been, from her words, the chosen of Uk'otoa, an ancient entity referred to as the leviathan that was a historical creation of Zehir, the Cloaked Serpent, before it was banished along with the rest of the gods in the Calamity and following Divergence. Now the captain, seeing herself as the chosen and seeing you in a similar state -- this kismet was grappled onto quite strongly by her-- sent you to bed with the excitement of this travel, of which you would embark upon in the next day. →
Upon waking, you found that Jamedi, a hired adventurer and dungeoneer who was set out to scope the island and find this temple, this supposed structure that was built in honor of Uk'otoa long ago and had since been retaken by followers of the Cloaked Serpent. Jamedi returned, finding the rest of the path too dangerous, but had managed to locate the whereabouts of this temple. Now you've gathered your things, you left the Squalleater onto a couple of skiffs, rowed yourself onto the white beach shores of Urukaxl, and as you all step across the long beach towards the line of trees that makes the jungle, you make your way into this mysterious wooded area. Mighty Nein, welcome to the jungle. →
You are very much in tropical weather. It is warm, it is humid, and, even within maybe ten minutes of walking into the jungle, you can feel the sweat beginning to gather at the edges of your hair and the back of your coat. →
Caleb would then have taken his coat off and twisted it up and tied it to the back of his coat, so he's just with the holstered books and his shirt sleeves rolled up at this point since it's so hot. →
You begin to step through the soft floor of the island jungle, each footstep coming with a sort of spongy pressure before it hits hard earth, rock, or just compressed compost and soft vegetation. I need you all to roll a stealth check as a group as you press forward. →
I'm going to politely ask the local greenery and let them know that we're going to be coming through and that we're going to try not to disturb them so long as nothing disturbs us. →
I'll roll for Yasha as well. Natural 18, all right. You guys ever so quietly disappear into the jungle brush without issue. The hanging vines and heavy palm fronds around you heavily obscuring your procession deeper into this-- →
Bring it in. Pushing forward, you look ahead and it's just endless trees and hanging vines and heavy roots in the ground. You feel nice and confident in the fact that nothing is catching your attention. A hand touches your shoulder and turns you to the right. It's Jamedi, who goes, "Shh. Look at this here. This was the first on my--" He pulls a small piece of paper and is taking notes. "I have not looked further within, but this was the first marker to our entry "inside." As he points over to show you, about a hundred or so feet off, partially obscured by one of the nearby heavy fronds, a dilapidated driftwood shack, with a frond-thatched roof. He looks back to the rest of you as you begin to approach. "This is the first marker. Do you have a "need to stop or do we press on?" →
Okay. Jamedi begins to move, and Avantika puts her hand out and stops Jamedi, and goes, "Terribly sorry, but you are more important on this. You two, you can do this "without him?" →
The two of you tread on. As you approach, you get a good look at it. It looks like this hut has been untouched in a long while. A lot of the overgrowth in the jungle has reclaimed the base of the wood. →
A lot of it appears to be driftwood, or ramshackle planks that have been carved from trees that have fallen over in the vicinity, or possibly scavenged from shipwrecks that have washed ashore. It is a mismatch of different types of wood and cobbled materials, but it is a shack. It's probably no more than ten-foot by ten-foot, it's not extremely large. You do see a half-rotted sheet of some sort of thick material that blocks the doorway. You see some holes that have been eaten through it. →
Okay. You get to the curtain and the material is a thick-- you can see that it probably once belonged to a sail or of a heavy tarp that's long rotted and mildewed, and as you put your hand to it and tug on it, elements of the threads separate a little bit. Peering inside, you see it's mostly empty. There's a simple cot, there's a chair, a mildewed leather coat that appears to be half folded over and thrown in the corner, and a small box up on the far end of the table in the room that's just open; there's no lid to it. The whole room smells faintly of rot. →
Glancing around the space, you see half of your party hiding, mostly, not too far off, maybe a hundred feet from the edge. Looking around you, you notice there are a few animals that are up in the top of the trees, leaping. Looks to be some sort of monkey-type creature, small, leaping from branch to branch. You see a few colorful jungle birds that are up in the higher elements of the tree tops. At the moment, no noticeable dangerous figures that could be lurking nearby. →
Okay. You pull the box off the shelf and pull it over. It has a bunch of old, dry-rotted navigation tools. You can see a wooden handled magnifying glass. You can see a piece that held an instrument that was used for charting paths along maps, but the wooden elements of these have warped over time and dried out and there are metallic bits are rusted a bit. →
It's a simple cot. It looks like the material bows in the middle where somebody would've slept previously. It's stained from weather over time. Looking up at the thatched roof, it looks like there's probably been a few storms that have battered it enough to the point where it leaks through, and the place itself doesn't really keep any of the rain at bay, what manages to filter down through the treetops nearby, at least. As you push on it, the material tears a bit, and beneath it you see a smaller chest of some kind. →
You go ahead. It opens up; nothing seems to happen. It's relatively small; it's maybe six by four inches in size. You slowly pull it open, moving the cot out of the way. Looking inside, immediately you see a small, golden statue, maybe three inches tall, that is a relatively simple carving; it's not extremely detailed. The relief looks like the head of a cobra with the hood open and the jaw open with fangs drawn. Next to that you see three approximately gold piece-sized rubies. They're that big around, but they're fairly thin. →
You pull them out. As you do, the weight that's been distributed outside of the chest causes it to slide forward. At that point, you notice that there is a cord attached to the base of the chest. The weight was holding it in place. →
As you remove the objects, the chest slides back against the wall as whatever cable is attached to it goes through a loop through the ceiling and you feel shifting as a large urn of some kind that is currently set up inside a thatch roof tips over, and begins to just release a payload on top of both of you-- →
You duck out of the way to the back, get your crossbow ready, and look down. The snakes hit the ground with a sludgy slap. All of these snakes have long been dead, mostly decomposed. →
Sure, they're still mostly decomposed. But the weather, at least the way it was kept up in there, wasn't conducive to any heavy jungle fungus, it seems. But you harry that along. You, through your cantrip, manage to watch as these dull blue and gray spores begin to apparate in a row across the pile of somewhat sludgy snake remains. →
You have them. You have everything that's in the chest, you have the gold idol, the small snake head idol, and you have these three gold piece-shaped rubies. They're about that thick, and that big around. Make an investigation check. →
You look at the rubies as you're inspecting them and they have little scratches at the edges, it's like slight-- I wouldn't say imperfections, it's not like they were originally there. But you can see small grooves or lines along the outer edge where something metal or pointy was used to scrape or picked. →
Nothing else. Just a few things left behind, and no sign of who once built or at least lived in this space nearby. But they haven't been here for a while, whoever they were. →
It does not appear to have any runes inscripted on it. There's no language carved or pressed into the mold. It looks to be like it was sculpted not by a master artist or sculptor. Some of the details are a little loose and bleed a bit: where the mouth and the teeth are some of them are a little bent or off-kilter. It looks like it was more of a passion project than a fine piece of craftsmanship. →
Captain Avantika crosses her arms and impatiently goes "Whatever it takes if you think "it will give us there safer. I trust you and your specialties." →
In this ten minutes, the blanketed heat and humidity this jungle tends to hold in is uncomfortable for those of you more used to the northern elements of this continent. →
The sweat is definitely collecting beneath all of your armor and clothing, pooling in areas you hadn't expected. Your hair is matted against your face, the insects are starting to find their way to you as the scent of sweaty humanoid draws them nearby, occasionally being bit here and there. You finish casting Identify. This is not magical, it doesn't have any magical properties. →
It seems to be just an idol, it looks like it was attached to something in the past, but it's probably literally worth its weight in gold. →
Yeah, that's the humidity. I walk over to Avantika and say: Might I ask, you said your men are dedicated to this cause as well. How much do you share with them? →
"I share what is needed. I share with them the elements of the dreams and visions I've been "given. For me it is one thing to have a loyal crew; it is another to have a crew that has faith "in you beyond being just captain. I do not want a mutiny, and what's more effective than someone "that thinks that not only are you a proper captain, but you are the link to their god?" →
"There are ranging levels of belief, maybe, but I think with the time we spend together and "the willingness to understand the possibilities of having a captain with such capabilities at their "disposal, that-- well, riches are not that far off on the horizon, eh?" →
"Speaking of which," and she removes her dagger and rapier and looks about and you can see beautiful weapons, very well made and very well kept. In fact, most of her equipment that she has, you can see her fiddling with occasionally to adjust and clean things as she moves through. →
There's a very forceful intent to make sure everything is properly placed and well taken care of on her person. She looks about and goes, "And as much as we are keeping an eye on us ahead, I am "still keeping and eye on all of you, of course." →
"Because, while I would like to believe this new-found kinship could make for some very "incredible possibilities in the future, you cross me and this blade will find your heart faster than "anything you've seen move." →
"All right. Jamedi?" "Of course." They begin falling into the same positions, with both Jamedi and Nott taking point. Everybody make another stealth check, please. →
Okay. All doing pretty damn well. Continuing to coast forward for the next hour, hour and a half or so, following Jamedi's path. You can see him pulling out notes here and there and looking for different things, and occasionally he'll come upon a heavy palm tree or jungle tree that he's marked with a blade and he's keeping tabs on his marks to follow his path back to where he originally found his way. Along the way, the insects are getting really obnoxious. The buzzing itself becoming this low, droning, ever-present hum, but the bites are getting extremely obnoxious. Jamedi acknowledging, once he starts seeing it more and more, goes, "I did not find "them a problem before. Perhaps they seem to enjoy your flavors more than mine." →
If anything, I feel like I'm exercising an enormous amount of willpower just not to-- I mean, just doesn't seem like we're in-- there's a good advantage to dealing with this now. But, yeah, there's something weird there. →
"With a full group like this, and trying to be as quiet as possible. I give us about maybe one "day. There will be a night of camping along the way." →
"They call the rivers, streams and the inlets home. Then there are the people of scale "and fang, the snake-folk that exist further in near this temple. Variations of their strange "physical--" What are you guys doing over there? →
"The people that have built around this temple, their variations in how their worship-- "the boons of this long-gone snake god they worship seems to apparate on their person in different "ways. I've seen some with heads that are full of serpent features, patches of scales, yellow eyes, "as well as some with limbs themselves transformed into snake-like forms. It is stuff of nightmares." →
All right. Continuing forward for the next few hours or so, the heat is getting heavier and heavier as the afternoon sky now greets you. You find yourself stopping to eat and drink water along the way with what supplies you have available to you. The next few hours or so as it begins to get darker and darker-- →
Sure, all right. Most of the ones you come across are like a dull pink in color that fade to a green at the base. It's not a vibrant pink, just enough of that whitish red crossover to appear. A lot of them grow along the base of the roots of some of these jungle trees and you collect a few handfuls of them. Okay. Yes? →
No, I asked if she shared with her men her passions and all the details that she knows and all the knowledge. I thought maybe she might covet that, but it seems like she's quite forthcoming. →
She's trying to build a following, like a zealot almost. You know, build believers out of her crew. →
I just wanted to say. People might have ideas and thoughts, and I'm trying to look out for you because we said we'd have each other's backs. →
Sometimes the less you say, the more people's minds like to fill in the blanks. From what I've learned, generally, what's in people's heads is worse than the reality of the situation. →
Excellent, let's stand right here. I casually pull out the wire and I cast Message to Nott. Nott, would you please go, I need you to speak to Avantika and Jamedi together for a moment, please? →
Okay. So, you cast Detect Magic. As your visual aura expands beyond, giving you faint bits of essence of magic around you. All of your friends that have various magical accoutrements themselves, begin to glow on their persons and around their persons. You can see that Avantika, both blades that are currently sheathed give off a faint aura. That seems to be all that you can notice at the moment. →
Wait, I'm going to stop you because I see what you're doing. You're probably not going to get anything off him, but he's got an undead vibe that I've been picking up. →
As you all begin to listen, Beauregard, Caleb, and Caduceus, you hear the cracking of branches and twigs and the shifting of jungle floor. Jamedi puts two fingers in the air and then-- →
"Shh!" you hear coming from Jamedi. As you look just past this clearing, you notice a troop of four figures making their way through to brush. →
You hear this very low, guttural clicking from one of them. You can notice these shapes, these figures in a little bit of the now somewhat fading dusk light, they're muscular, and burly, and hunched. You see scaled skin, but deeply scaled all over. Not snake-like, but more lizard-like. →
You see long snouts with rows of sharp teeth and a frill down the back of the neck. You can see makeshift bits of leather strapped together to form patches of armor across the torso. Big heavy shields, carved from some sort of a large shell, that has multiple rows of spines and hooks down the back of it. You see clubs and heavy blades that are made of makeshift, scavenged metal or weapons that have washed up on shore or have been recovered from others that have been unlucky to make their way to this island and never returned. →
(growling and impacts) Glancing over, Caleb, you watch as behind them on the bushes in the opposite side of this small path they are walking through, you see three arrows. Two of these lizardfolk tumble to the ground to one knee (growling). They turn around and two people in purple-ish robes with basic jewelry and leather bands rush forward with daggers and a scimitar in the other hand and slash out and start hacking. These lizards are now being assaulted by these people and behind them, one burly man with weathered, dark skin, exposed chest, and these large, billowing, thick arms that look like two very long, five-foot serpents that come protruding out the sides of the shoulders into these two separate snakeheads, full with eyes and teeth, rush forward and slam, biting into the throat of one of the lizardmen. He goes (choking) and gets pulled to the ground. →
His arms are snakes. The two other people that you see: you see one male, one female. Both look human, but in the middle of this chaos you can see their eyes are bright yellow with the serpentine, snake eye slit in the center. Now the lizard men are pulling up their shields. One of them has been carved down on the ground. The one with the big hand has pulled the throat closed to the point where it's slowly dying on the floor. →
They have completely gone into this combat between the two of them. →
Yeah. About a foot wide and they spiral upward and then they snap into giant fangs that protrude and snap on each. His face is intense and grinning. This is a hunting party. One of the lizardmen grabs his spear and jams it into the abdomen of the man with the snake arms. Looks back and hisses at him angrily. Manages to pull the spear free with one of the snake hands, leaps over, pole vaulting off the ground, the other snakehead coming out and snapping into the shoulder and chest area of the snakeman and then throwing him up into the air. You hear (screech) as he goes flying, spinning up into the boughs, lands on the ground. He stands back up, grabs his shield, and you can see him woozy. There's this black color where the impact of the wound was, and you see the veins growing dark. It stumbles and falls onto its knees and then falls to the ground. →
Yes. Two of which looked to be comparably smaller creatures, but they just weren't prepared and while the three snakeman hunting party appeared to have sustained a few blows and injuries, they were successful. →
Correct. As you're inspecting, you can see patches of skin across their shoulders and a part of the chest, you can see scales that appear and then vanish. With the battle done, the quiet hits, and they begin to walk off to a small patch where they had dropped some sort of a satchel. They start pulling out rope and they start tying the legs together of these lizardmen until they have two of them tied on one side and the other two tied ankle-to-ankle on the other. The one with the two snake arms picks up both and begins dragging them behind him in the jungle while the other two flank and look out into the grass below. They begin making their way deeper towards the path where they came, away from you. Their hunt successful, they're bringing their meal back with them. →
The direction you've been traveling has been a little zig-zaggy, because it's been following Jamedi's path and the marking he's making, so you're not entirely certain. It seems it could be parallel to the path you're going, but since you don't know the final destination, you're not entirely certain if it'll line up with it or not. →
Amongst the ground where the battle took place, you can see there are mashed plants and streaks of thick lizardmen blood, a few broken teeth that are scattered in the sand there, but nothing beyond that of value. →
I feel like maybe with these people we should have a frontline party and a backline party. And maybe a little frontline poison resistance could be good. →
I have been spending this entire debate looking north and remembering everything that I saw on the way here from the boat and just calculating an exit strategy, because I remember the things that I saw on the way here. →
Continuing on, the sun sets, and the sky goes through its cycle of oranges to pinks to purples to blues. You haven't quite reached this aforementioned ruin before night falls. Now the evening insects begin to grow louder and louder. →
The nocturnal creatures begin to let out the nocturnal calls. The perpetual din of the various clicks and cricket noises and other various flapping insects' mating calls into the night become this constant droning sound around you. →
While the insect bites have subsided, this sound itself is uncomfortable. For those of you who are used to more comfortable sleep, you begin to dread the possibility of finding a night's rest in this. →
No, I'm able to affect its color and have it match. It still looks like a very smooth bubble that is 8-feet tall-- maybe not that big, but it can match the general color. →
Okay. Following this little chain of lights that pop and glow as it goes, eventually you come upon the first signs of stone rubble. Some sort of structure was built here long ago, and has since fallen over, and elements of its masonry either moved or reclaimed for other structures elsewhere on the island, but you can see the basis of walls and joining positions where elements of this previous building were used to maintain and hold the ceiling that has since fallen in. There is a series of walked paths that carved through the various ferns and heavy bush, but you do find the back of one of these walls where Jamedi says, "This is where I slept previously. Perhaps this is "the best place to rest. So--" He begins to set up a small tent arranging against the wall. What do you guys do? →
"I am okay." He heads back to configuring his tent. Avantika tilts her head and goes, "I "assume this is some sort of protective measure for your night's rest?" →
Sheathes the rapier, but keeps the dagger drawn, turned around in her hand so it's face down and looks over her shoulder both ways out towards the darkness. "So how spacious is this?" As you finish the spell, the strange, colored orb appears there on the side of the ruins. →
It's quite old. It might be older than this age, might have existed pre-Calamity, or at least somewhere in that neighborhood. But you're not entirely certain. →
I'm going to take a walk around this little ruin. I'm going to have the little Light spell up, see if there's any writing on anything, any carvings. I'm going to have Eyes of the Grave up again. I'm going to be looking for any undead. →
The rest of you are staying within the sphere, gray color, dimly lit on the interior? It can be whatever light source you want at this point. The two of you wander around the ruin. Make an investigation check, if you don't mind. →
Okay. As you walk through and pore over the ruins, the structure is fairly simple. This wasn't some beautifully-made stone hall. Most of the stones here were probably pulled from rivers or were smoothed over, and they're varying sizes, and the masonry is very simple. →
Not particularly. You don't know if it's a temple; it could have been an abode. It doesn't appear to be huge. There seem to be one or two adjacent rooms that were set in that space. →
(impact) There is a shape that moves out of the shadows with incredible speed. The light, the faint color being emanated from Caduceus' cantrip immediately falls away and you see the streak of his hair disappear in the nearby shadow. I need you to make a strength saving throw. →
That's a fail. You get pushed off, land on the ground, you tumble, and are held prone on the ground as what little bit of light you can see-- not having darkvision, unfortunately-- what you see is a faint glimmer of two large white fangs, a smattering of whiskers right before you, this growl sound, and a cluster of snake heads that bend around each side of the head. →
The bite attack hits you. That is only five points of piercing damage. Actually, it gets advantage on the second one. Okay, with the advantage it does hit, and the other one, the snakes all snap onto you, multiple snake bites, all biting across your face and your throat. For that, you suffer eight points of piercing damage and you need to make a constitution saving throw, please. →
Correct. Jester, you see the shape and you glance over and you can see with your darkvision this ten-foot-long leopard-like cat that is currently now pressed onto the chest and body of Caduceus. It bites down towards him and all these strange protrusions from around the shoulders and head area all strike down, as a few of them curl back and look at you and in that bit, you can see a few beats of light, faint bits of starlight and moon that are coming down and reflecting in the eyes of these snake heads. And you hear this (growling) up behind you on the ruin where you were just standing. I'll be right back. →
You hear sounds, but there's been no sound yet. You guys have been setting yourselves up for the evening there. The only person that would have probably noticed would have been Caduceus. →
Help! Then I'm going to tap my staff to wake up my beetles as my bonus action. My beetles are going to make a bite attack on that. I actually have that information now thanks to the update. →
Okay. That's okay. Well, they're in the space right now. I'm panicking, so this is going to be fun. I'm going to start making a weird, awful sound, and I'm going to start getting even paler and a little gaunter, and I'm going to grab it and I'm going to cast-- I'm so panicked-- Vampiric Touch. →
As you reach up, your hand grasps its throat and this strange hissing sound happens as you pull life force energy out of it. It's strange threads of purplish-black energy that pull into your body, your wounds healing up slightly. →
You're prone, so it's half movement to try and crawl away. Or you can spend half your movement to get up and then you still have half your movement to try and escape if you want. →
That finishes Caduceus' turn. It's now their turn. The one up top who's hissing down at you, (long exhale). As its jaw opens, this semi-translucent rolling cloud of dust and gas emanates in a 30-foot-cone. →
You take another-- ooh, that's ten points of piercing damage. At this point, as you're between the two of them, the one behind you that just put Jester to sleep, all its snakes snap around you, the back of your head and your neck and your shoulders, and you feel the poison through your veins. Roll another constitution saving throw, please. →
"What the shit is that?" pulls out the rapier and the dagger, and darts, leaping over (counting), just seeing these creatures rushes forward. "Hiyah!" and is leaping forward with her rapier and blade and is going to make three attacks. The gray is going to be with the dagger, one rapier shot misses, then one for the rapier and one for the dagger hits. For the dagger, that is-- →
It was a seven and a ten. Then Avantika seems to be holding both blades ready, preparing to defend herself. Jamedi, who stumbles out of his tent, is only half movement, glances over and can barely see what's there. He's on the inside of the dome, pulls out his shortbow, and is going to attempt to shoot it with an arrow and misses with a four. A natural four. There is no light source here; it seems to disappear in the distance. That finishes with his turn. That brings us to Yasha. →
You come around the edge and you turn and see, right there in front of you, another one of these leopard-like creatures, and you're like, "Oh shit!" You didn't even notice there was a second one there. →
Seeing what I see, I've got the transmuter stone, I can see in dim light, so I'm feeling into my satchel and I take out some molasses and smear it on my hands and cast Slow on-- I'll come as far as I can over here, behind Yasha, to see what I can see. →
You have maybe five feet, I'll say right here. So you start backing away. Back at the top of the round. Beau, you're up. The orb has vanished, everyone has rushed out, you look over and you can hear these growls, and snarls, and impacts. Combat is happening. What are you doing? →
That is a natural one. So you miss the first strike, but as you roundhouse kick, you manage to kick right up in its abdomen. You feel ribs break and buckle under the impact of the kick. Some sort of chain reaction spirals across its nervous system as it falls to its side. It is stunned until the end of your next turn. →
First attack. I'll take that natural 17, which I'm pretty sure hits for nine damage, and then second attack is a natural 20. Thank you, Gil. Roll two dice. That's double sixes! That's 12 plus four. No, wait. I double my die roll. I only roll once. →
After it's stunned, you get up and wail on him. The second hit managing to plunge right towards where its kidney is, and you don't feel any sort of muscular resistance as your fist sinks about an inch or two into its body. You pull back. →
It doesn't break the skin, but you can feel you hurt some meaty organs in the inside. Does that finish your turn, Beau? →
The other one that currently, seeing all the individuals cluster in the area, begins to back up, and its torso swells and its lower jaw opens and (exhales). The other one now releases a similar burbling cloud right there. Avantika's going to have to make a constitution saving throw. →
As she strikes wide with the blade, the creature (snarling). It's limping a little bit and it's trying to back away. It's unable to move from where it is. Its speed is reduced to zero. So it turns to now look at the two unconscious figures on the ground. That one is stunned so it can't do anything. Jester, you're up. You're asleep. →
The body attempts to leap and the head stumbles underneath with some of the snake heads. →
The momentum carries it, but it runs straight into the base of the tree, crossing the way before (impact) on the ground. The head, still (growling). Coming to rest on the ground. →
I'll light it up with this crackling green Eldritch Blast energy coming from both of my palms, causing its fur to smoke and burn off and its snake heads to repel! →
Its torso erupts in green flame and energy, just (explosion). The body slinks to the ground in a smoldering cinder and as it's head (moaning), (arrow impact). →
Caleb is going to quick-walk over to Avantika, kneel down and say, "Are you all right?!" with his back to Spaghetti and cast Identify on one of the swords. →
Okay. She comes to and pushes you away for a second and pulls the blade and puts her back up to the wall and has both blades out and is coming to consciousness, but instinctually is defensive. →
From what brief encounter you had, it's hard to say. Make a nature check-- actually, no, this would not be a nature. This is not a natural creature. Make a general intelligence check. →
Knowing that, I would recommend that if I make the bubble again, even if some more of them come, as long as we stay safe for the next ten minutes, if they come, we will be still and sleeping and all they would see is a round stone. →
He grabs a few things from the tent-- and it's a very tight space. Nine creatures is the max, right? You've hit the maximum. You all manage to fit in there in a not terribly comfortable space. →
Sprinkle, who is not necessarily used to the type of weather, appears to be very uncomfortable in the heat and being tucked into the cloth and is like, (chittering). →
"Well, anyway. I will be taking a nap with one eye open. Good night, everyone." She settles into her camping garb. Who's keeping watch? All right. Make perception checks for the first watch, guys. →
One. Also, we're being very quiet because we don't want to be heard, but while we're in here, Frumpkin, over a period of ten or 15 minutes, you see this, goes (pitter-patting) along the ground and hops onto Avantika's boot. →
Avantika, who, as mentioned before, was sleeping with one eye open, essentially, is rested there and then right as you begin to go through the actions of casting, there is a flash of motion. →
Towards the tail end of it, you do see a shape of another one of those leopard-like creatures that stalks on the outskirts of the strange, opaque orb you've created and approaches it. (sniffing) Circles around it for a bit, prods at it every now and then. Spends about 40 minutes or so keeping a watch and then eventually loses interest and wanders off into the jungle. →
Ja, you can go out and in, and you can-- sorry. You can put your weapons through it, but no magic will go in or out. But you can leave and come back anytime you want. →
Oh, nice. He sits across the opposite way, and you're watching this way over his shoulder, and he's looking over yours and doesn't engage in conversation, unless you wish to. →
(farting noise) You're not quite sure who it was on that side that let one loose in their sleep, but the inside of the dome suddenly has a very fragrant air. →
His eyes narrow at you. "I was the only survivor to the escaping singular mines to the "north area of the continent. How far have you traveled outside of the Empire?" →
"I have delved into a few ruins. I have been lucky enough to survive by working alone. I have "seen many friends fall and disappear, but I have made my way. What's the craziest thing you have seen?" →
Oh shit, I've seen some crazy shit. This one time I saw a bug carrying a piece of bread that was like five times its size and he was carrying it up stairs. Like up and then he would turn and then it would go up and then he would turn. →
"Maybe. Just shh." As you guys wait you can see, similar to what you had previously seen in your travels on this island, two lizard men armored. One carrying a net that's slung over his shoulder, the other with a long spear both with shields off to the side. Not ready for aggression, but they both approach slowly towards the strange sphere and begin inspecting it. →
They both circle around the back end of it, poke the dome a few more times. One of them picks up a rock and throws it at it. It skips off of the exterior of it and rests in a nearby bush. They both step forward one more time and smell it closely. They both turn around and begin to make their way in the opposite direction of where the dome is set, making their way further into the jungle clearing. One of them stops and looks back behind one more time at the dome and turns back and both of them vanish into the nearby brush. →
"All right, collect your belongings." He goes over and starts disassembling his tent quickly, rolling it up and putting it into his pack over his shoulder. You guys gather your things. →
Yeah. You gather your things. Jamedi leads you back towards the jungle. "All right a few more "hours and I think we'll be in the outskirts of the village." →
"Oh there are plenty of these snake people where they live. We'll have to be very quiet. →
"We'll have to gauge our passage through their town and try to not be seen. And if we are seen, "eliminate whoever catches us before it can notify the rest of them of our presence. Make our way "towards the central structure. Trust me. You'll know it when you see it." He looks back to Avantika and says "And I believe that is the quarry in which you paid for, beneath that. →
"Correct?" Avantika goes "That is correct. In we go and see where it takes us. So shall we? Jamedi, "lead the way." "All right come forward." You all begin to slowly make your way into the jungle as you cast Pass Without a Trace and we'll come back at the end of the break. →
Stealth owl. All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back to that with that stealth check and this next leg of the journey into the island of Urukaxl. Um... what's up? →
So we have our fantastic Wyrmwood giveaway tonight. We have-- here we are. So moving forward you'll have to move into the chat-- that's how it's been-- move into the Critical Role chat on Twitch. That's twitch.tv/criticalrole. To win tonight's awesome Wenge Turquoise Inlay Halloween Dice Vault. →
It's a dice vault that keeps all your dice magnetically held together and it has this cool, glowing runic sigils on it as well as this glowing Wyrmwood symbol. You can find these at Wyrmwood on the Kickstarter currently. The keyword tonight is jungle. So go ahead and put jungle in once. More than once you'll be disqualified. Once again, only available for those in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Quebec. We're working on it. Anyway we'll be back here in a few minutes. We'll see you guys shortly. →
Welcome back everyone. So, before we back into the story we have our winner for the dice vault giveaway. Our winner is wolfstarumbra. →
In the early morning daylight on Urukaxl Island, you trudge deeper and deeper into the jungles, as the low mist in the jungle begins to burn away as the day itself grows warmer. All of you getting a bit more adjusted to the temperature and general atmosphere. Beau, you're feeling a little rough. →
Just kind of (sighs)... you're not quite sure why it's come over you. Pressing on, Jamedi leads you for about another hour and a half, two hours through the jungle before putting his hand up once more to stop you all. Oh we didn't make the stealth check actually. Because I said when come back, yes. →
You guys are cruising your way through the jungle and using that score as you approach, Jamedi with his hand out behind him stopping you. →
Glancing just past his shoulder, you can see the jungle trees begin to clear and the first thing that catches your eye beyond this treeline, you can see a few dozen scattered stone buildings, most of them in relatively good shape, immediately coming into view. You can see the stone coloration is more of a sandstone, yellowish to a dull gray and white with different materials used to accent elements of the constructions. This doesn't match the ruins you previously slept in the night before. These appear to be fresher. You can see the verdant green jungle vines and roots begin to entwine and tangle near the base of some of them and where it's built looks like parts of the jungle have grown up around and helped camouflage elements of this small village. You can see elements of the exposed stone carry snake-head obelisks that appear to be softly carved from bits of a marble material or recovered stone in a similar way that most of the construction has been done. →
Similar sculpt and design though larger and of more detail. You see these obelisks about ten feet tall and they tend to be markers at different intersections of travel. You can see probably a dozen or so folk immediately at this position that you're at that are wandering through this city. →
Some are gathering materials. You can see-- actually up the way across one of these walls, you see four figures that are strung up by their feet. →
You can see the remnants of the lizard men that are in the process of having the flesh filleted from their bodies. →
You see one of the more humanoid ones, probably one of the hunters that you saw alongside the snake-armed man, is there with the blade, stripping it off the bones and sloughing it into a pile next to it where you hear (squelching) over on top of each other. →
Remember if anything goes down, Fjord and I will take point. Caduceus, I noticed before it seemed like you guys were poisoned immediately, but not lingering? →
Looking at her; while all of you are fairly warm and sweaty, her complexion is paler than you recall. There is quite a bit of sweat, more so than expected, that is streaming down her body. →
Her vision appears to be not as focused and she's not making eye contact with you as she speaks to you. Lids are a bit droopy. She doesn't look healthy. →
As you guys slightly press forward, Jamedi showing you a bit of a path off to the side. He glances towards the path where he was going and one thing that catches your attention is you've seen the men with the snake arms, you've seen the folk with the scaled skin patches. What you see now, towards this one stairway portion that now leads to what you previously didn't see below the tree line, but a massive stone structure beset by these stairs on each of its five sides. Envision like a semblance of an Aztec pyramid, but a five-side shape that levels off at the top and there are stairs on each of these five sides. At the base of the nearest one, you see less of a man and more of a giant snake, maybe twelve to fifteen feet long, coiled and muscular. But to a humanoid torso with two heavy log-like arms that rest at its sides. One resting on this large sheathed scimitar-like blade, its head curled up into this heavy, straight serpent snake-like mouth as its jaw kind of hangs open and its tongue (hissing noise). It's just keeping an eye and it slithers across the road, bowing from side to side as it looks across the tree line. →
The base of the structure. You're seeing a variety of these snake people going about their lives. This one is just keeping a watch in that one element and Jamedi you can hear curse under his breath. "It was the path I took to the inside last time. We're going to have to improvise. Which "way do you want to go?" →
Okay, so if-- I'll go over to Jamedi. If we can clear him, is the path you've taken before clear as far as you can see. I don't know which way you went? →
"As far as I can remember it was fairly clear but it is also-- I had to ensure that there "was not many watching. They have these-- like right there." He points over the side and you can see along the stairs almost like a withered person. You see them, like a smaller human, hunched forward, their body a light green tint to itself, kind of this wrinkled, scaled body, its neck protruding and curved outward. It looks what a-- like the lizard folk you had seen earlier but with a longer neck and almost geriatric in the way they carry themselves forward, lumbering. Carrying a large spear and appears to be watching like a sentinel across the upper portion of this large stone structure. →
And you can see there's about four or so buildings between where you are and the base of the structure. There's a small village that surrounds the base of this temple. And so you guys have to find your way through this city. →
Avantika goes, "Uh, that is not really a specialty of mine. However, I'm very good at not "being seen." And Jamedi goes, "It's also my specialty. Perhaps we can come from a different "direction, smaller group. The two of us can meet on the way." →
They both look at you and say, "The whole point of this was to make it a small group. The "more we add to this group, the harder it is for us to do this." →
I think we should try and be as sneaky as possible. If for some reason shit hits the fan, I can make a pretty, I think, spectacular distraction that doesn't put me or us at risk. But I think we should try stealth first. →
The weather here is warm enough to the point where there isn't the need to bundle. There's no need for hoods because the society here wants to make sure they can very quickly identify who's a part of their faction and who isn't. So yeah, there's no cloaks. You see what are like open robes, simple bits of cloth just to cover aspects of the body for protection from the sun or otherwise, but beyond that it's mostly just skin and scales. →
There are people that look mostly like people from a distance, but upon closer look, their skin in places that gets a greener hue in patches, their eyes are yellow. Very snake-like eyes. Sharper teeth. →
I will use my disguise kit and try to make it look like they've got scales on them. They will probably know the people in their own fucking village, though. Let's be honest. →
Now that you've watched, the first view you had was only the first few buildings in front of you. Now that you've stepped forward and glanced, you can see there's maybe about 30 to 40 buildings that sit around the base of this entire temple. →
You've seen a few dozen in the streets, so the society here, you can assume somewhere in the neighborhood of like one to three hundred people live in the city total. →
Purple robes, simple cloth skirts. Most of the whole thing that's worn there is for general protection and adornment. You can see jewelry adorning some of them, but it's very simple and it's more for purpose than anything extravagant or presentational. →
"I figure the top of that would be a very effective place to meet. Is that not correct? That is where you entered last time, non?" She turns to Jamedi, who's keeping low to the ground and goes, "That is indeed where I was. There is a room inside there I could not walk into. I could not find a way through. That is when I returned. So we'll meet there." Avantika goes "Au revoir." Waves her hand through the air, and marks a few symbols and you watch as she disappears. →
That's what we're going to find out right now! You're proficient with your disguise kit, so it's proficiency bonus plus I'll say dexterity check to see how well you can apply these details to their bodies. Roll for each one of them. →
Beau, actually, pretty good job; the linework and shading you had done in these various patches on the inside of the brow line helps make her look a little more snakelike. You've sunken the jowls, you've done the scattered patches with the patchmarks. →
You guys look amongst yourselves while she's working on Yasha, and finally she finishes, and voila! Pulls back, and it's just Grinch. Just green, head to toe. Bright green. It's pretty bad. →
I just know things. I don't know what it means. I was trying to find a moment to figure out if you knew, or if we should tell you, or if this was part of some sort of plan. I hadn't figured it out, and for some reason, I had not realized that I was walking around with a bunch of gossips. →
Well, it's what I get, I suppose, for trying to be sneaky about things. →
"Don't worry about it. But nevertheless, he has done his job so far. I assume we just keep a "close eye. If ever he decides to give any sign of turning on any of us, well, it's eight against one." →
I knew that certain members of the party may get a little excited. I, myself, had a moment of panic. Had a moment of panic myself. I've been keeping it contained. →
Hang on, hang on, real quick: (clearing throat) Real talk, for just a second. If Yasha comes with us, and we puppet her, and she dies, Ashley's going to be real mad. Just pointing this out last time, because we did this with Pike. Not saying one way or the other! Just saying, we're going to continue on with Yasha? Okay. Done. Done. →
You all begin to make your way towards the first set of buildings. There's that one individual that's flaying the bodies of the lizardmen. Has made their way through two of them. →
There are two more that are in the process of being stripped. There is one street that breaks through two of the ones closest to you. Do you wish to take that path? What do you wish to do to stealth in? Because part of the pathway here is out in the open, so you'd have to gauge your timing. →
Where you are now, towards the main stairway that leads at the top, you have about two streets or three sets of buildings to get through. The ones closest to you, there are two large buildings that are immediately towards your side. One side has nobody around it. The other one has one individual that is currently flaying the hanging corpses of the four lizardmen. →
Okay. You make your way, exiting the jungle way, and are you going quickly and quietly so nobody notices or are you strolling through, using your stealth as a means of trying to keep any sort of-- →
If there is a building to walk beside, I would prefer to have our shittily drawn and one very nice one closest to the building with us on the outside. →
As the light hits you as you leave the branches of the jungle and begin shifting, fully open now in the middle of the midday sun, immediately you feel the heat on the back of your neck and shoulders begin to grow hotter and hotter as the nerves build up inside. You cruise through the open area, and to the left you hear a (whip cracking). You glance over and you can see another one of those massive, mostly-snake, serpentine hulking individuals is currently wielding a whip. →
There is a cluster of lizardmen that are currently chained and are currently pushing on a heavy bar that is dragging a large piece of stone out of the jungle and towards the center of the city. They're bent into slave labor for these people. They are now pushing it forward. That catches you off guard for a minute, but you continue to focus and move forward. As you get closer, you can hear the slick sound of the flesh being pulled from the back of the lizardman's body-- (wet ripping) →
All right. Yasha rolled pretty high on that, actually. The figure goes back to its work and begins carving it. You move past that into the first street walkway. It moves on for about fifteen or so feet and then it has a crosspath. It goes to the right and the left, and ahead it goes to another set of buildings behind, and there is an alley that turns to the right and it seems to end at that point. So you have a T intersection before you, and then it ends and curves to the right. Where do you go? →
You glance inside, and it's a simple interior. There's a little bit of sunlight coming through from the opposite side of it from the direction of the light in the sky. It frames ambiently the outside of a figure that appears to be humanoid that is sitting over a table, and you can hear some grinding or carving sound, but its faced away from you. Looks to be some sort of workshop. →
I don't know, if you had her character sheet, you would have the benefits of knowing that. But, not my responsibility. So you pick you on it and the muttering is akin to, "Come, we have "to pick up the hunts. The food stores are running dry this season." As that comes to you, you glance up to the side and you guys watch as two figures round the corner. They're both mostly human in body, though their bodies are scaled and a dull green-gray color. Their heads, fully serpentine, snake jaws-- the hood's not open, but retracted-- and they both have, strapped across their shoulders and torsos, longbows that are at rest, and they have quivers filled with arrows. They walk past and glance over at the rest of your crew. Make a deception check, Jester. →
Yasha as well. The disguise didn't quite go well, and Yasha and Caleb-- even in the clustered section-- catches some attention. The first one keeps walking. The second one glances over and looks to the rest of you and, "Hey!" You hear in Abyssal, "Hey, what've you got?" You guys hear (Abyssal). →
Glancing about at this moment, the only other figure you can see near this intersection is one of the patrolling, hunched creatures you saw up on the temple itself on the second tier, and it's currently walking away from you and doesn't seem to be paying attention. →
You carve through him. These are more ranged hunters; they're not as hardy as some of the other ones out there, and this one, you manage to in just two quick swings, carve through the chest and take down most of the throat-- just tears open. It crumples to the ground, dead. The other, who is currently being bound, (snarling), begins to start making noise and getting ready to-- →
Okay. You watch as he (grunting) freezes up from the stun and then (gasping) takes a bolt to the throat. The eyes begin to roll back as a Fire Bolt blasts in its chest, and you watch as it burns the edges of its face up in cinders. It goes quiet before limping to the ground, the smoke coming up from its smoldering corpse. →
At this point, the rags in the corner begin to shift as you watch what appears to be an individual sleeping in the corner begins to come to and it (raspy breathing)-- →
Look up, and you can see what looks to be a more humanoid-- one of the most humanoid of the ones ones you've seen there, but with the scales-- what you managed to make yourself look like-- begins to come to consciousness and goes (snarling). →
There're stone tablets that have been carved and then placed up against each other. There's occasional scenes you can see through, and the ceiling above appears to be slats of stone that have been placed in a lattice formation. →
The ceiling, looking up-- there is no second floor or anything, and it looks like it's just a continuation of stone. It looks like a series of thin slats have been placed one next to the other in a layering to create a ceiling. →
You guys turn the corner, and as you exit, you can see that large, looming, slithering snake figure with the huge scimitar that's probably 15 foot from tip of tail to nose. Thick, burly body, slithering its way towards you. →
Meaning whatever noise, this figure managed-- I rolled high on its perception-- to pick up the sound of its call, and it's making its way in your direction. →
Okay. I will point down the street away from us and go (hissing) and cast Major Image, and I will summon the image of a manticore, a large manticore roaring and thrashing in the streets. →
So now, suddenly, in the middle of this room, all of you turn and look and see as a full-grown manticore, akin to the one that you battled not that long ago beneath the mines near Alfield, you see wings unfurl (roaring). All of a sudden, all eyes in the city shift to this creature. In a matter of moments, you can see arrows being loosed in its direction, hitting the ground near it. The snake that was approaching you spins around, begins to draw its scimitar (snarl) and it begins to approach. →
Okay. You guys arc in the completely opposite direction heading towards where the base of this temple is. There is another one of those that is currently at the bottom of the stairway that is making its way in your direction. →
You had to beat a ten. You push, and it turns around and sees the manticore and looks at you curiously. It has to take a moment to decide which is more dangerous, the manticore or this curious serpent. Goes ahead and grabs you by the chest and begins dragging you with it. →
Natural two again! It was like 20-- two. All of a sudden, it loses sight and you see its eyes starting to blink out where once the piercing yellow snake eyes fade to a snowblind white (snarling and hissing). Pulls its blade out and looks around, looking freaked out at the process. →
You have to break that grapple; it's still holding you. →
Well, no, that was the last time. He rolled a natural eight, so he's still holding onto you. →
He's blind, but he's holding on to you. The scimitar's out and he's swinging it wildly at whatever's in the area now that it can't see and is (gnashing). →
The manticore is still roaring. Creatures are now flooding out of the city to combat this and you can see some of them are swinging and are beginning to notice something strange... →
All right, so you guys are charging towards the temple. You bypass that one. Now you're heading up the stairs. Up across the way, there's one of those crotchety snake people that you saw patrolling the upper area who has its longbow out and is currently firing one after another arrow toward the manticore. It's moved off to the side. →
It doesn't seem to immediately notice your presence as you approach. If you guys are trying to stealth by without getting its attention, I need you all to make another stealth check now that you've engaged in combat. →
About 15 feet above you, above the stairs, just in the middle of the open. Glancing off to the side, the manticore still drawing most of the attention, but people are starting to figure out the weirdness about it. →
Natural four. You Sparta this fucker right off the side of the temple. You watch him tumbling down the entire length of the side of this temple before landing on the ground and skidding and looking unconscious and bleeding out of the side of his mouth at the base of the temple. →
Glancing around, I mean, the manticore's causing a huge ruckus in the middle of the city and those that have begun to realize that it's an illusion are looking around confusedly and at the moment do not see you, but that time is going to be very short because you're out in the middle of the sunlight. The trees aren't above you now. This is an open clearing in the middle of the jungle and you're just running up the side of these temple stairs with the light down upon you from the sky. →
Okay. So as that idea flashes through your mind, that would be cool, but it's not going to work, so you keep rushing and we come back to the moment as you guys dart up the side of the temple. →
Everyone make one more stealth check now that you've had that brief encounter and teleported behind to make sure that nobody catches you before you reach the top portion. →
That's still a pretty high average and it's more of an average thing. So a couple of stumbles coming up the stairs from some of you, but largely you make it, cresting to the top of the platform. →
You get there for a second, take a few breaths and realize glancing over to the side that people are still emerging, looking over the side and you can see dozens of these snake people are emerging from the buildings and heading towards the sound of this raging manticore. There are those that are now scattering from the manticore, trying to engage them to tell them it's not what they think it is. There are eyes glancing around and you can see the sentinels are starting to-- But you guys are keeping low and out of sight. No one at the moment seems to notice where you are and the few that have noticed you you've either taken out or have lost sight of where you were traveling. So for the moment, you feel safe. At the top of the temple, you can see some sort of a worship terrace. There's torch-bearing statues of snakes sitting near the corners of each of these five sides of the temple, similar in shape to the one that you found, the idol. In fact, at the top of each of these torches, there's a similar golden idol, but while the one you have is smooth, each of these has a carved divot on the inside where the torch itself is actually burned in. Or where materials are placed in to burn as a torch when the night comes or for any ceremonial use it requires. →
Right now, it's just an open platform. You do see in the center of it a heavy stone tablet about 12-foot by six-foot the rests directly in the center. You can see metal rings that are bolted in with metal rivets that hold it on the sides of the tablet. The stone itself appears to be stained with a variety of various shades of stain. →
There was one stone table about 12-foot by six-foot and on the sides of it there are rings that are bolted in and there are stains across the surface. →
You get the sense that this is for sacrifices, but you're not entirely certain to what ends and to what purpose, whether it's just ceremonial or for a specific purpose. →
You're out in the open on the top of this temple, but you do see, as you're inspecting the table and looking around, there is a trap door made of the same color stone that has a handle built on it that you can pull back. →
28. Getting down to this device, you can see it's an intricate, thick, long key, what would have probably been that long and have a whole series of intricately designed cliffs to it to hit all of the various-- →
However, you manage to get multiple angles and press and hold, and press and hold with all of your tools. It takes everything in your bag to get through it, but you manage to just hit each one properly and lift, and it pulls open with a grinding sound. →
Okay. You all dart inside. At this point, as you are stepping inside, you see on the opposite end, rushing up the edge, you see Jamedi go, "(huffing) Very good," and he jumps inside with the rest of you. →
All right. As you are just closing it gently, you can see shapes coming up over one, and now a second, side of the temple. There are a few charging up. All right. It locks from the inside. →
Okay. Nott's charging down the stairs, the rest of you follow suit. The chamber beneath has some sort of faint, fiery light source, and it opens up below you. As you begin to move downward, you can see a pentagram-like chamber. Not a perfect pentagram, but there are five sides to it; one that's shorter than the rest that gives this diamond-shape to the interior of the chamber. →
There are two walls on the sides, and there are bits of green growth in the corners. In the center, there's a raised platform with some sort of fountain that rests in the middle, and there are four figures standing around this fountain. →
Which is precisely what you notice as Nott, your foot hits one of these steps that (clicks) gives out from underneath and the stairs suddenly shift into a sliding platform. →
It's not going to be a hard fall, but any sense of stealth you would've had, or any sort of surprise, is gone, as all of you manage to barely glide your way to the bottom or stumble on your ass, sliding to the bottom of this chamber. There in the darkened, lit interior chamber, three of these figures standing around this fountain, holding bowls, glance over their shoulders towards you and hiss with sharpened snake teeth. →
It's a slender humanoid body that's tall and thin, but its body is gray scaled and armor plates and then, from its shoulders, it extends up into the hooded cobra head. →
Don't we have that little box that appears that's just counting down from ten, nine, eight, and it's going to automatically skip to the fight right now, right? We can just hit it. →