AI Summary
5 min readThe Mighty Nein's Desperate Gambit in Cognoza
The living city of Cognoza had already proven itself a nightmare of shifting flesh and impossible architecture, but when the Mighty Nein found themselves trapped on a crumbling stone slab a hundred feet above a floor of teeth and boiling flesh, their situation went from dire to catastrophic. Two identical Caleb Widogasts descended from above, each surrounded by flickering yellow energy, and the party realized with mounting horror that their friend had been possessed by something ancient and malevolent—an "ego leech" that had taken root in his mind and was using his formidable magical abilities against them.
Time Stop and the Portal Gambit
The battle opened with a devastating display of what a ninth-level spell can do. One of the Calebs cast Time Stop, freezing the rest of the party in a pocket of suspended reality while he set up an elaborate trap. He cast Fire Shield for protection, conjured Crown of Stars (seven motes of radiant energy spinning around him), then opened a portal beneath Veth and cast Grease on the ground, ensuring she would slide toward it. The entity possessing him used its reaction to overcharge the spell, raising the Grease's difficulty class by 5.
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What you'll learn
- 1 Main Outline
- 2 (01:43) **Party Returns to Cognoza** - The Mighty Nein re-enter the living city's shifting fleshy architecture, with the floating stone slab and the ominous arrival of two Caleb Widogasts
- 3 (06:01) **Caleb Opens with Time Stop** - Caleb casts ninth-level Time Stop, freezing reality to set up an elaborate series of spells before the enemy can act
- 4 (09:09) **Veth Slides Into Labor and Danger** - Veth fails her dexterity save and vanishes through the portal, landing 300 feet away on a distant platform in active labor
- 5 (14:24) **Ford's Battle Cry and Polymorph Attempt** - Ford rallies the party with a battle cry granting advantage, then tries to polymorph one Caleb into an orca
- 6 (18:20) **Yasha Trapped in Force Cage** - The brighter-aura Caleb traps Yasha in a 20-foot cube of force with no saving throw, removing her from the fight
- 7 (20:49) **Beauregard's Assault on Caleb** - Beauregard parkours up the floating platforms using Step of the Wind, then strikes at the brighter Caleb
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Part 2
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An Experiment gone wrong has caused Caleb and Essek’s continued exploration of the Folding Halls of Halas to become an even more terrifying labyrinth, with a corrupted Caleb Widogast as the maze master. The rest of the Mighty Nein must now brave this twisted dimensional dungeon to recover and restore their friend… before they become part of it themselves.
Featuring Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham
Captured live from Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany on July 6th, 2026
Master of Ceremonies: RedChild
Key Art by Katherine Lam @katherinelams
Character artwork by Tshortik @tshortik_
Set Designed by Shaun Ellis
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