lemmy.world

Watch the episode live on Twitch [https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@criticalrole/featured] at 7pm PST. Restreams on Twitch and youTube the next day at 9am PST > | Runtime | Break start| > | :------ | :------ | > | 3h 44m | 1h 26m | [https://i.postimg.cc/g0YCtknX/Screenshot-2026-02-01-181000.png] # Episode 15: Flight to Castle Torch We return here to Riesingürtle after epic combat on the Hachvallen Brücke. Having journeyed east from Dol-Makjar in search of a vision of an orcish warrior standing in an ancient tomb, in search of answers for the fate of House Royce and House Davinos, in search of questions surrounding the slaughter at the Palazzo Davinos and the undead nature of Occtis Tachonis, the Stone of Nightsong. Answers to all these questions lying to the east, our adventurers found themselves in Riesingürtle, momentary guests of House Einfasen, and more recently, guests of the Druids of Season, Stone, and Hunt. On the high grotto of the Shongarten, a tense exchange between Thaisha Lloy of the Circle of Ancients and her fellow druids of the Old Path. Her success in representing her situation allowed for entreaty with the entire party (where Hannan, the Circle of the Hunt, beheld Vaelus, faithful of the Sisters of Sylandri). And before things came to blows, a nat20 Intimidation telling the elven druid to not resort to violence (lest it be visited upon him) was followed immediately by a nat20 Persuasion. At which point, Amadah (the elder druid of the Circle of Seasons) said, “This must be recognized as the opportunity it is. I would see your journey continue as clearly you have access to knowledge that I do not, and the mission that lies before you is one of deep significance. How may I help?” And offered to meet you at the aerie above the Schongarten, where you would be given passage (flight by eagle) to wherever you need travel. Traveling from the Schongarten, you were waylaid on the bridge by soldiers of House Tachonis and Occtis’ older brother Frons. Frons did not bedevil you for long, for indeed, Sir Julien Davinos hurled him from the high bridge to meet his watery death beneath the falls, as the rest of you tangled with incoming ballista bolts (foiled by a quickly-summoned Fog Cloud from Thaisha Lloy) as Vaelus left combat. There were three that had a worse combat than Vaelus, and it was Enmity, Cruelty, and Agony. Who realized they should not be in this combat, in this city, or in this arc. Rushing forward from the Hachvallen Brücke, you hear distantly (as your footfalls race up) now outfitted in some druidic garb. You had traveled the Dvalmar Pass in (some of you) the bloody clothes you were murdered in. In the distance behind you, you hear some shouts elsewhere in the neighborhood surrounding, some screams, distantly. You even hear a spell being fired off behind you. You can only imagine where Petra and Ryah have gone, but you certainly do not hear them following you, (although that doesn’t tell you very much). Ascending the staircase, you arrive at an aerie atop a craggy mountainside. The aeries’ nests are some 20 feet wide in diameter (many of them) and you see enormous birds of prey, giant eagles throughout. These eagles down below, many of them are 14 feet tall at the shoulder, towering above you, turning to look. Several of them here have small sheds with moss-covered roofs on the sheds with small symbols. There are some carcasses of livestock strewn throughout. There are some that even have chicks that are about your size. You look and see these eagles have white breasts with small black dots of plumage and mottled beautiful gray plumage across their wings that looks almost like rain moving down a slate slope as it spreads their wings. Going up higher and higher, you see that in these small sheds, there are enormous saddles. You see that some of the saddles appear to be little more than a leather harness, and in the writing on some of these nests (there is some druidic writing). It appears that this is a stable kept by the druids of the Circle of Stone here. The staircase ascends higher and higher as a voice calls from up above you, “Come hither. Up here!” As you arrive at the top, a druidic stone circle on the top of this summit that is partially removed from Riesingürtle below and very much of (not in the Schongarten but connected to it). There are massive druidic stone plinths (and there is a 40-foot-wide nest here as you look and see a 30-foot-tall eagle with white plumage who turns to look). Thaisha, immediately you can tell, bird is angry to be awake. Angry, angry bird. The summit has this massive 40-foot-wide nest, but a lot of other stone around it. You see there is a small armory section leaning up against something and there are munitions, arrows. You see that there is this huge, (for lack of a better word) it looks like a massive wooden carriage body. But there is a wooden box that appears to have a set of benches within it and a massive, collapsed, canvas folded thing on one side, a long, almost like condensed blinds or a curtain. This box, this carriage box rests on massive springs to four corners that almost are like table legs that you can see the carriage is suspended on springs from these four massive cornered legs of this “sky carriage”. Up above it this huge wrought-iron goes up to a massive crossbar (and the crossbar also appears to have two large lengths of leather-wrapped chain that go up to these enormous hooks on either side). You see, standing by that carriage with some belongings in a knapsack under her arm is Amadah, who turns to you and says, #### “Welcome. Are you all right? I heard some shouts down below.”