Ep. 93 The Road Below Chapter Seven

## Listen

Ep. 93 The Road Below Chapter Seven

—Jaela Daran

Beric, Dex, and Booyah learn about the assassination of the fake king and make their way to Wroat. On their way back to the boat, they find out that Urik has busted Paulo out of Dolurrh.

## Synopsis

### Back to Flamekeep

Beric had just ended communication with the Raven and he sinks to his knees next to the column of fire in despair. Dex, having just heard about the rescue of Bala and the assassination of the fake king, stands there wondering which part to bring up first. Booyah solves this for him by asking if he heard about the assassination part.

Dex checks Jaela's reaction to what the Raven said, and she seems to have a quizzical look on her. Unsure of who he should be addressing, Dex asks both Jaela and Gram if they'll explain what just happened. Jaela says it's strange that the sword would talk not inside someone's head. The voice sounded cold, and power mixed with indifference often causes the most harm.

Dex leaves Booyah to talk to the Keeper and former Keeper about the stones and walks over to Beric, who's still in shock over what he's just heard. He believes all they've done over the past several weeks has been pointless. They thought they were gathering the pact to somehow solve the problem of the world ending, but it's just made the Raven stronger.

Reluctantly, Dex tells Beric that the fake king is dead. He acknowledges he can't understand what he's going through and wants to give him time, but they have none. Beric puts aside his grief and gets up to address Jaela.

Meanwhile, Booyah is in discussion with the Keeper. He's in awe of everything, being a new convert of the Flame. He gives her great respect and asks about the stones, and being very cautious of Skaravojen, hands them over for her to see. Jaela fears that with stones of this size it will weaken the Flame too much. Booyah offers to bring the light back when they're done with it.

At that point Beric joins them. Their reason for wanting the stones was to go to Mabar, but he's not sure they have to anymore. Even if they do, he thinks it might be wise to wait to power up the stones until they're needed.

They're put on the list of people welcome to visit Jaela at any time, and she offers to ask the Flame for guidance before they leave. Everyone but Jaela and Gram go upstairs while she converses.

Booyah charges upstairs while Beric and Dex talk about finding a House Orien enclave for teleportation to Wroat. As soon as Booyah sees Boranel he tells him the news, and Dex and Beric rush up after him.

They see light shooting up from the stairway, and after a few minutes the rumbling dies down and the light subsides. Jaela and Gram come up the stairs. Jaela tells them what she learned; there are four weapons that the giants used in concert with one another to sever the tie of the plane. If the weapons are used on the plane that was severed, it would resurrect it. One of the weapons is in possession of the Umbra, and the other three and not been touched for thousands of years.

She also asked the Flame about the Raven, and was told that she's a new entity that grows stronger. But while she grows stronger, her army diminishes.

*"Hey, you know, you could probably help us out. Do you know where the closest house of teleport is?"
—Dex*

Jaela points them to the Harbor District for the House Orien transport. They'll take Gram back to the boat and then head out. Beric bows for Jaela, and as he rises she pats him on the shoulder, which gives him another thing to linger on. Boranel hangs back and tells Jaela that they'll talk soon, under better terms.

### Return of Paulo Omaren

Over the sending stones, Dex tells Gerald what happened with the fake king. Beric gets Crast on his stone and tells him to find Ruken. Beric needs to speak to his personal assistant, who is also Beric's other half-brother, Vor. Jumping back to Gerald, he asks for Oriana and Paulo's body to be brought down, and they head towards the ship.

Word has reached Flamekeep of what happened, and at they reach the Harbor District they see ships taking off and a line beginning to form at the House Orien teleporter. One of the skiffs from *Borrowed Time* stops in front of them, Gerald aboard. He tells them to get aboard, no questions asked. Beric climbs in and starts asking questions. Booyah and Dex hop in and help Gram up.

They get to the ship and see two figures on the deck. One is Oriana. The other is Paulo. She jumps into the skiff and hugs Beric. Beric, quite taken aback, hugs back. Paulo met Beric's mom, who tore open the plane so Paulo could escape Dolurrh.

Though everyone is quite shocked, they still need to get Boranel to Wroat, and Dex speeds things along. He helps Gram onto the ship and the skiff heads back down, Paulo still aboard. She tells Beric what happened in Dolurrh.

His family has gotten stronger. A lot of the Raven's followers have disappeared; recently over half the population is gone. As he collects pacts he frees them, and he, his family, and the Raven all grow stronger. Urik isn't happy with how the Raven is acting, but on the bright side, Paulo is pretty sure Beric's mom likes her. They touch down on the ground, and Paulo looks expectantly at Beric, waiting for him to say literally anything.

Once again Dex hurries them along, and Beric tells Paulo he needs to go to Breland. Booyah gives Paulo a hug, which she appreciates. She grabs Beric's shoulders and says she's happy to see him, and she understands that he needs to go do this. She's going to go be with Oriana.

### To Wroat

They step off the skiff and Beric tells Boranel to cut the line. Boranel excitedly rips off his cloak in a dramatic fashion and struts to the front of the line. Everyone looks confused and horrified and they start whispering amongst themselves. The clerk sees Boranel and let's them onto the teleportation pad.

Beric gets Gerald on the sending stone and tells him to keep an eye on Paulo.

Again through the stone, Crast is walking up to someone matching Vor's description. He calls out and confirms it's him and then hands him the stone.

*"Hey, Vor! Yup, he's lookin' at me. Now it's…"
"Alright, wait a minute. Tell me when it's awkward."
"It's super awkward. Ruken's looking at me now, too."
—Crast and Beric*

Ruken awkwardly tries to take it and looks put out when it's given to Vor instead. Beric and Vor have a brief conversation to catch each other up, and then Beric tells him that Boranel is here and the other one was a changeling. Vor says he'll track down Three and anyone else who was involved. Beric makes sure he doesn't send soldiers after Drakir; he's pretty sure Drakir would just kill them.

Beric turns to Dex.

*"There's probably about eighteen things we have to do before we deal with it, but I think that woman was a trap."
—Beric*

End of episode.

## Quotes

"Drakir took off on a shark."
"Drakir took off on a…"
"Drakir grabbed Bala, jumped in a river, and rode a shark."
"Nope, we'll deal with that…we'll deal with that later."
"Meanwhile, I'm in a bush."
*—Crast and Beric 0:45:01*

"How long have you guys been playing D&D together?"
"He's never done anything like this to one of my characters."
"Oh, cause like how are you still friends?"
*—Jeff and Philip 0:56:46*

"Yeah, we got four for Wroat."
"For now-at."
*—Dex and Booyah 1:01:08*

"How many other people are on this call?"
"Booyah say hi!"
"What's up, dude?"
"More than I would like."
*—Vor, Booyah, Gerald, and Beric 1:07:24*

"'Beric will deal with that later. Beric will deal with that later. Let me take a minute to dunk on Ruken.'"
*—Jeff 1:09:17*