WRITTEN RECAP
Eldoria — Episode 13: Natural 20… At The Worst Time
Episode Thirteen brings the Old Dudes back to Shade Karn with one day left before the conspirators' suspected move.
They have confirmed that the black ichor is an alchemical-necromantic substance used to transform living bodies. Arthias has also quietly warned Fars that something is wrong and that he cannot speak freely while Oma Val is present.
But the immediate crisis is Gregor and Lyra.
The party returns to Bravaro and reports what they have learned.
Bravaro has already been moving carefully. He has found a way to warn High Marshal Kalin Stonefist and Lady Alara without simply accusing their own deputies in public. Gregor appears to know that documents have gone missing from his house, however, and there is concern that he and Lyra now realize someone is onto them.
The original coded phrase still points toward the bell.
So the Old Dudes decide to secure the bell tower.
The tower is run by an old dwarf and his son, Luca. Zayon discovers a fellow bell enthusiast and leans into the role with such enthusiasm that what began as covert surveillance turns into an extended friendship built around ropes, gears and the proper ringing of enormous bells.
The plan is simple enough.
Be inside the tower when midnight arrives.
Make sure the normal bell signal is completed.
Prevent anyone from cutting or altering the mechanism.
Watch for whoever shows up to sabotage it.
This is a good plan.
Which is why the actual attack happens somewhere else.
The group hides around the tower while the festival continues outside. Zewor attempts to conceal himself among coils of rope, a hiding place that Jay compares to trying to disappear behind a string bikini.
Zayon helps with the bell.
At midnight the great bells ring exactly as they should.
Nothing happens.
For several seconds the Old Dudes enjoy the relief of believing they stopped the plot simply by being there.
Then screams erupt from two different parts of the city.
The phrase was never about destroying the bell tower.
The bell was the signal.
The assassins were already in position.
The party explodes out of the tower in different directions. Zayon, half deaf from standing beside the enormous bell, heads toward one disturbance. Garth Maul and Zewor follow toward the fountain. Wenende rings the bell wildly as an alarm before climbing out, and Fars goes with him toward the other sounds of fighting.
The party discovers two simultaneous assassination attempts.
Lady Alara is under attack near the fountain.
Kalin Stonefist is fighting for his life on another street.
The Old Dudes have to split themselves between both battles.
That is also when the episode's title earns its place.
During the rush into combat, one of the initiative rolls comes up beautifully — a natural twenty result at exactly the moment everyone needs every advantage they can get.
Then the encounter setup has to be reset.
The roll disappears.
The replacement is much worse.
A natural twenty, at the worst possible time: spent on initiative bookkeeping that does not survive long enough to help anyone.
The table is appropriately offended.
The assassins do not care.
Both Kalin and Alara are already wounded when the Old Dudes arrive. Dead guards lie in the streets. Black-cloaked killers move through the chaos trying to finish the job before help can organize.
The heroes charge in.
The episode ends with the two battles still underway, the party divided across the city and the entire conspiracy finally exposed in violence.
For thirteen episodes the Old Dudes have been following clues: a dead courier, an encrypted warning, Gregor's letters, the Garnet Forge meeting, Bravaro's investigation.
Now there is nothing left to decode.
Gregor and Lyra wanted the people above them dead.
The assassins are trying to make it happen.
And the bell is still ringing over Shade Karn while the Old Dudes fight to keep the Pentarchy alive.