Dice Shame - 100 | 'Feed a Cold'

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

On their way South a mysterious encounter leads the party to a frozen town in need of help... Comedy, action and a whole lot of shaming come together in Dice Shame, an Actual Play Podcast of Storm King's Thunder by Wizards of the Coast! Join our GM Jo; her partner Harlan, his brother Alex & their best friends Justin and Rob as they tackle the daunting world of Faerun in this legendary adventure module! Dice Shame is a podcast that welcomes its audience to the gaming table. Like the games they play at home, they try not to take themselves too seriously. The show aims to be entertaining, inclusive, and irreverent, while still taking the rules (somewhat) seriously. Join us every Thursday morning for brand new episodes available on all major platforms including; Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and more! If you haven't checked it out yet... what are you waiting for?!? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, I'm just microtonal, that's why... No, you can't move there. Can you move there? I'm not paying every town's taxes. How do you say scone and giant? You go to the most trustworthy member, which we've established as the baker. He's digging through the bed sheets. Did I kill it? Jack! How do you think we're up right now?

He's awful, but blood is everywhere. Who even decides to live in such a place? Damien, watch sale. It looks clear. I feel like he's dated a tax collector. I used to date a tax collector. That's great. You know, when it was 28.

If you're not turned on by columns and sums, let me tell you, you're missing out. Welcome back to Dyshame episode 100. Today's episode is called Feed a Cold. MVP this week goes out to all of our incredible patrons. Nearly two years ago, Dyshame started as a direct result. result of your generous support. As your numbers grew, we were able to purchase better recording gear, host digital gaming conventions, and spawn another brand new show, Malevolent. We are so incredibly grateful for all your kind words and your contributions to the show. And so we wanted

to take a second to say, thank you so, so much for making all of this possible. And an extra shout out to the great old ones tier for blowing us away with your generosity. A special thank you to Christopher Ryan Evans, Mitchell Caldwell, and Merlin. Thank you so much, guys. 100 episodes. Ladies and gentlemen, for the past 100 episodes, we have been elated to bring you dice shame. Spawning from an eight-hour conversation on the long ride down from Toronto to Indianapolis

two years ago, this podcast has grown into something that not only brings us untold amounts of joy to create and produce, but also something we are so immensely proud of. Thank you for listening, reviewing, sharing, loving, and letting us into your homes these past 100 episodes, and we promise to keep being there for as long as we can. All right, Harlan. Should we get down to business? Let's do it! It's episode 100!

Wow, already? Our intrepid band of adventurers has certainly come a long way from where we started it all. from the road leading up to the settlement of a town called Nightstone. You guys remember back then? Nightstone. It doesn't ring any bells. Back when it used to be called Nightstone, now it's called something completely different. That's when I first met you, people.

Since then, you guys have done a lot. Let's just go back and remember. You've attended the subterranean wedding of a satyr and a mushroom person in the depths of the high forest. That's right. That's pretty beautiful, honestly, all things considered. That was fun, guys. Hope they're doing well. You opened an orphanage in the ruins of an old manor.

Yeah. Right. You attracted the ire of a band of immortal hunt lords eternally bent on your doom. We call that Tuesday. He rooted out the evils of a hill giant hive and killed its queen. I'm still sad about that puppet theater that got thrown at us or whatever. She couldn't move. We rolled her into a hole.

Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah. Just tragic. And Kralath killed a chick in the basement there. That's right. Don't forget that Kralov murdered someone in cold blood. Hey, well, I mean, we started an orphanage from it, so I guess it balances out now.

It's all about the balance, right? I mean, it's just what should happen for people who deal with devils. I mean, we're still talking about it. You rode dog sleds through a blizzard to investigate an ancient magic spire lost to time. That's right. You were fooled by an imp who tried its utmost to tear your friendship to pieces. Not all of us, no. You defended a city against an onslaught of giants attracted by an autumn festival.

Yeah. You traversed the peaks of the mountains at the spine of the world. And now here you sit, passengers and conductors of an airship lent to you by an ancient Red Dragon. And so, before we start tonight's episode, I wanted to take a second to thank each and every one of you for the part you play in weaving this story. Oh. Alex. I want to start with you. There has never been a dwarf quite like Doran. With his bravery and his heart, he is the driving force of the Nightstone Four. When the party quarrels, Doran is there

to sternly lock you out of the house until you make up on the roof and when there's a drink to be had Doran is there even if it's mid-combat filling up his tankered a heart so big he could even love a goblin with a pony named shitfart

you might mistake him for the comic relief but his past shows layers of regret resolve loyalty and the dwarves of the realm know him by his steel whenever we get to sit down and play D&D with Alex, I'm always excited. Even when he can't pronounce the simplest

of words, time and time again, Alex laughs at himself at us and at our mistakes, and he never takes it too far or too seriously. He's by far the rudest, most obnoxious, most annoying player, and we all

love him so dearly for it. Alex, thank you for taking this journey with us. Thank you very much, Joe. We're walking the fine line on roast. It's just How would the Nightstone Four get along without Jack? Better? Beyond being the intellectual Swiss Army knife of the group,

Jack is an emotional cornerstone. He's a sensitive guy, no matter how desperately he might try to bury his feelings in his work. He's tugged in a thousand directions. He wants to protect the man he loves. He wants to shelter the lost children. He wants to learn everything he can about the people around him out of genuine love and curiosity.

Yes, he's a point. pomp his ass sometimes, who wants you to acknowledge his powerful intellect. But deep down, he's an awkward teen trying his best to contact the Faye realm so that he can make his first real friend. Rob brings a lot to the gaming table, a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, lower enthusiasm. He's our chronicler, our scheduler, sensible, and logical. My favorite part of playing with Rob is when he thinks of something new or puts a detail into place in his mind and he gets eureka face. Plus, we've adopted his vocabulary into our own whenever we say, I think there's a play here. Yeah, absolutely. I do that in real life so much. There's a play here

where... Rob, the show would be utter crap without you. And we're all so lucky that you joined us. Well, thank you so much. I think this is part roast. It's kind of fucking like it. It's a little roast And it's a lot of love. Your Rob is worse than you. But we love you for it. So I hope it's not coming across as an insult. No, no, it's delightful. It's perfect.

As long as he don't do it to me. Justin Kralath has proven his resilience time and time again within the party. I think he's the character who's gone unconscious the most times, clinging to life valiantly, only to rise at the end of combat, victorious. He's a champion. because he puts himself in between his friends and danger every single time. Even though part of him is missing, he finds meaning in his relationships and also in making a really good pot of stew.

Kralov may be the biggest member of the Knight's Stone 4, but he's also the gentlest, holding babies at High Harvest Tide, chatting with a squat little mushroom at Morella and Greenwistle's wedding, adopting a tiny tressum off the street. But don't let that soft side fool you. The balance is swift and the balance is merciless. I'll just start calling you Kraylath the Phoenix. I like that. I like that.

Justin is one of my best friends. We've played a lot of different RPGs together, both on stream and at home, and he embodies a lot of the qualities that Kralath demonstrates. He's level-headed. He's diplomatic. I love that he always wants to know every side of a situation. And on top of all of that, Justin donates his time, week to make sure that Dyshame sounds good as a product. He does all the back-end polish on the audio,

composes music, adds sound effects. The show would not sound as good as it does without his hard work. So thank you so much, Justin, for everything that you do for the show. Yeah. Well, thank you, Joe. And last, but certainly not least. I don't think there's anything in that black bad for me. Oh, Harlan. Harlan, the way you play red makes me wish that there was an NPC with the party all the time, just so that I could hang out with him. He's inquisitive, he's fun-loving, he's dangerous, he's irreverent, he's irresponsible.

He pushes the party forward. He doesn't always care about the consequences. He wants to drink random potions and eat the probably poisonous berries in the secret garden around the teleportation circle and name everything Stephen. him. Red is Doran's biggest fan. He's Jack's counterpoint. He's Krala's best friend. And as for Harlan, well, he's my future husband and the person I trust most in the world, but even if he wasn't, I would still have a ton of nice things to say about him. For 100 episodes, Harlan has been working hard behind the scenes, turning our live

play sessions into the show you hear by painstakingly sewing every stitch of audio together. He makes combat run smoothly. He makes all of us sound far more eloquent than we ever possibly could in person. He nudges the timing of jokes so the punchlines land better. He makes stupid jingles and Easter eggs at the end of the credits to make himself laugh as much as anyone else. And if it weren't for Harlan's diligence, enthusiasm, and dedication, the show would not be here. It's true. Shut up. Shut up, Joe. genuinely none of this is possible without Joe her absolute dedication

and work that she puts in the hours of debate amongst herself let alone the amount of work she pours into typing and handwriting and reviewing notes and maps the amount of games that she finishes with the most positive spirit I've ever seen is beyond attractive she is somebody who is so passionate

about what she does, and it is infectious. And I think all of us here attest to the infectious nature in which you not only run a game, but present yourself as a human being, Joe. You are, without a doubt, my favorite person alive. And we are so lucky to have you as frontrunner and the head of this deformed, disheamed body with one furry arm and one, you know, short leg, dwarf, dwarf leg. A baldhood. And we owe you more than anybody else here

for crafting such a fantastic story that we get to be a part of this. Absolutely. You're amazing, Joe. Thank you so much. Congratulations to all of you, to everyone. I can't believe that we've come so far. We're centurions now.

We've made it to level 100. Level 1,000. I mean, episode 100 of centuries. Yeah. Anyway, enough of this mushy stuff. So I guess now we don't have to do like one of our standard intros where people insult me for my driving habits.

Right? Rather, you insulting yourself. You embarrass your damn self. That was not us. Here we go. The deck of the airship is uncomfortable in the inhospitable climate of the spine of the world.

And so you descend below decks to make yourselves comfortable for your journey. You are given quarters to share between the four of you and you spend six days resting. I'd be practicing the giant language reconnecting with one another. You travel west and south out of the icy grip of the mountains.

Shale, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He keeps eating out of his cage, Quayloff. I need stronger metal. Doran, I thought you said this was the strongest metal dwarves had. It is, but you have to understand. These Umberhawks, they dig through mountains. We come across these all the time, and it takes a whole gang, a whole troop of us usually to take them down. There must be some deterrent, something we can spray on them.

Well, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just, you have to teach it to eat. Red's like in the corner, like, trying to manage this toddler size now. It's like bigger. Oh, no. It's grown fast. You looked away for one second. You look back.

Those kids are grown. They're eating through the sides. You're telling me. And I feel like there's a few moments where, like, Red calls Shale B. Oh, no. I mean, I mean, Shale. Like, just one of those, like, things where you're like, oh. I think at the maximum he's, like, beach ball sized.

It's Basham. I'm just teasing. Yeah, definitely, like, like, a little bouncing baby size. But I do think Shale really likes Red. And I do think there is like a genuine connection there. Cute. It's the way you know, your mom calls you by your brother or sister's name in that way. Not that he's like, he definitely did it because he had that empty nest syndrome.

But now it is its own thing. And he's definitely come into that. So who am I playing dragon chess with? Oh, oh, fucking Kieran. Oh, that's funny. Oh. The dog. He's smart.

Yeah, he's smarter than you. He's got better intelligence of you. So I'm sitting there playing dragon tests. He's like letting you in. He's like, ha, ha, ha. But no, just playing the game to take as long as possible because he gets a treat every, you know, the longer we play, the more food.

Doren gets, the more foods on the table, the more treats Kieran gets. So he plays just good enough to keep the rounds going. Nudging the piece along with his little snow. And I picture Doren, like, dropping pieces of meat and stuff on the table. And the way the dog would kind of come up with snow kind of sideways, lick it off the top of the table,

then go back to nudging pieces with his nose. I love the idea that he's like about to checkmate you, but he looks over to Jack, who's like reading a book, and Jack just like shakes his head, like, let Doran do it. And Kieran's like, all right, and like makes a bad move. And Doran's like, ha, ha, stupid dog. And still doesn't win the game. Yeah, still doesn't.

Put himself at a checkmate. And then the dog just rolls his eyes. I got this picture because Jack, now resistant to cold because he's got this fancy new rock that he might go up on deck every once a while just to get a little bit of time alone out of this chaotic space and pull out that flute that he got from the aerialists. He's sort of been practicing to try and get like anything that's not an intellectual exercise but is definitely still like a new creative voice to try and like be a little musical but he's really not good at it. I kind of love that he's

terrible at it too. He's not a performer like he's just got his natural charisma and that's all he's got going home trying to learn this. I think you guys hear that strange bird? There's like a bird or something. What the hell is that? It sounds like something is dying. There's a leak in the balloon. Jack, do you see anything up there?

I'm picturing, like, in the evenings, one of the things that the crew and us do is we get together, we have a Titanic-esque, like, below-deck jam session. Oh, yeah. And tambourids and mandolins and stuff. And I picture kind of Jack off kind of on the sidelines, like watching. And he, like, wants to take part, but he doesn't know his. It's definitely like, unless he's invited, he's nowhere near brave enough to pull this thing out

in front of another person. Yeah, he's like snapping off beat, like from the corner. Like, he's just kind of like, I love the idea that he's like so intelligent, but, you know, someone will walk up to him on the deck and you'll like hide the flute. He's like, just enjoying it, and then wait until they leave and then pull it out again. Keeps touching in his back pocket while we're all playing,

and then, you know, he goes to grab it, and then he just doesn't touch it, and then he goes to grab it, no, no. Oh, I'm just microtonal, that's why. That's why I'm just, I'm doing it on purpose. Oh, I see, very, very... Syncopation, microtonal, you know. It's Avonelvin Jazz. Well, Krayloth is, you know, as the wizard chess is happening in the cabin,

Krayloth is lying on a hammock, and it's swinging back and forth. He's got Jackson on his stomach, and he's petting him slowly, and he has a notebook in his right hand, and he's, like, saying, Gog, Og, Brog, and then he, like, closes it for a second. Gog, og, bruh, and then he opens it again. He's practicing his giant, which he's been working on with Jack for the last. Doran's smoking his cigarette playing dragon chest. No, you can't move there.

Can you move there? I don't think he can move there. It's called castling, Doran. We've talked about it. It's an obscure rule, but it's valid in tournament play. Oh, God. How do you follow these rules? Okay, okay, but Shale gets next.

Uncle Doren, Shale's next. Not if he's going to eat the pieces. Weird things. He was like, how many replacement pieces have we got so far? There's like half of them are like whittled out of strange pieces of soap and candle wax. Red's like so desperately trying to shove, you know, his child in the mix to make him feel like one of the boys. He's just like that. Hey, Red.

Yeah, buddy. How do you say scone and giant? Oh, okay. Thanks. No, sorry, I was choking on a piece of brittle. It's bah. Oh, bra. Okay.

And how do I say stew in giant? Oh, okay. Got it, got it. Okay, thank you. You're doing great, bud. Sounds wonderful. I appreciate it. Late afternoon on the sixth day of travel

sees you cruising over the misty treetops of the lurkwood. You've been flying over the forest for days. The wintry tops of cedars and pines shivering below you like a verdant ocean. The sun is already beginning to set and flurries of snow. pelt the unguarded faces of anyone on deck. I think Red would come up every once in a while and sort of counter to Jack. He's much chillier since getting the ice ruin. My bones aren't used to this. The fur doesn't help all that much.

What's that up your sleeve, Jack? It's something long and cylindrical. Just, you know, Desan's one. Yeah, cool. And this flute, you know, that we've picked up back in the aerialists, but look at the woods down there. It's really, like, take in the geography. It really isn't quite like the map. You can see it's grown a little bit over the last few years. A small brown bird shoots up onto the deck of the airship, fluttering haphazardly in a circle,

leaving a streak of blood wherever it bumps against the flooring. It seems to be injured. It's breathing rapidly, looking all around in distress. Hey, hey, little guy. Red bends down. Shale's like underneath with Doran. You just hear screaming from underneath of Doran getting bit, but he's digging through the bed sheets.

I feel like Jack and Red sort of walk up to this little thing, and Red puts his warm paws out and tries to lift the little bird. Yeah, its little chest is like, you know, I mean, I don't know how I know this, but what it looks like when a bird is scared. I don't know why you know that, but... I don't know. How many birds have you killed? Gacy.

You know in their little chest just like heave really fast? It's like that. Before you snuff out the light. You know that exhilaration you get? Last light of a dying bird, the jofalick story. Thanks guys. Anyway, this bird vanishes just as suddenly as it arrived. Oh, you pick it up in your hands and it just disappears.

What the hell is that? Vanishes like a familiar disappear? Yes, very much. Actually, Jack, you would recognize. that immediately. Did I kill it? Jack! That was someone's familiar. Oh, oh.

It means there's a wizard around here somewhere. Didn't feel familiar. Below you, a small village appears between the thick trees. You count a few dozen wood and stone cottages with stone fenced yards, paths tread through the snow between them. I think red hollers at the crew to sort of stop the airship. Sure, yeah. You call for slowing the speed.

Yeah, I mean, it's been six days. I feel like there's somewhat a rapport here. We're allowed to use this thing as if it were our own, more or less for the time being. So I think, yeah, I think Reds sort of hollers for someone to slow down. The airship complies, sort of losing velocity as you move through the evening.

On the far side of the village, you see a tall manor house with a high peak to roof that stands with lights in every window. On the lawn, someone is waving both arms overhead, clearly trying to catch the attention of the airship as you begin to pass overhead slowly. Look, Jack, there's a gray person there against the gray trees and the gray...

Oh, I'm colorblind. There's someone down there, I think, standing in the trees. Doren, bring the spyglass. As you say that, we're already coming up because we kind of feel the airship's starting to come down and looking out the little porthole window, we're seeing, you know, the ground rise up closer and slowly to the airship. So, oh, oh, okay, and he grabs a spyglass and continues up to join you.

What is it? Have we arrived? I don't know. There's someone signaling for help. Oh, help. But we're not there yet, are we? We're still over this forest. Doring kind of scoots up and gives you the spy glass pretty quickly. Jack will take a good look down at the manor house and the people there and then sort of hand the spyglass over.

Red, with his already good eyesight, puts the spy glass up and he sees like, the mole hair on the guy's lip, you know? Ah, it's too close. Well, a little too far. Yeah, are they shouting anything or? They're just kind of waving both arms overhead, like trying to catch your attention. They're not shouting because, I mean, they recognize that the distance is too great. Should I put up a signal?

I don't know. Maybe. One of the crew is like, would you have us land the airship or shall we maintain altitude and drop the ladder for you? Maintain altitude for the time being, I think, we don't know what kind of situation this is. And I turn to jack and I say, you know, an airship would be a worthy prize for any possible army to take, keeping it up just in case, you never know. Four score of orcs could come out and try to make an assault. I think I'd turn to Kralath and give each other eyes about climbing down this ladder.

Kralath is feeling a lot more comfortable after the past few days. And the experiences he's had over the last hundred episodes have made him a bit more, Able to stomach this. Until he looks down. He turns to Red and says, Hey, Red, so what do you see down there? It's still hard to make out between the trees. Yeah, there's somebody waving their arms trying to get our attention.

Did you do a perception check? Oh, yeah, let me do a perception. Great point. And I got a dirty 20 on perception. Oh, nice. Yeah, looking around at the village, you would estimate that perhaps 200 people live here. It's hard to tell immediately.

The icy grip of winter is clearly holding the village in its grasp. There are some large drifts of snow pushed up against the side of some houses. The figure that is waving to you sees that the airship has stopped, sort of hovering in the air above the village, and is turning around to go inside the manor. Well, I suppose we should head down and see what's up. I don't see any, I mean, with a dirty 20, I presume I don't see any, any signs of an army. Glaring issues.

There's no evidence of an ambush. All right, well, uh, let's get down there. Yeah, you know what? I'm thinking I'll head down first. And maybe Red, you stay last and cover us with your bow and arrow. All right, fine. It's not a bad plan. Alex, good strategy.

Well, it's the soldier in me. Redser, like, kicks the dirt on the deck a little bit. Oh, fine. You guys get to see the new cool place and I'll stay behind. Well, no, come down. Just be the last one. Are you bringing Shale with you, Red? Nah, leave Shale here.

I feel like I've befriended one of the younger male humans who's sort of been forced to watch over Shale when I'm like out and about, just doing my own little things and climbing the mast of this airship for some reason. I think it has a mast. And I'm just like, Damien, watch Shale. He's like, all right. And he kicks the dust Yeah I do picture I do picture him like an emo kid

Like he's I feel like he's got like You know like the black hair like All over one of his eyes Yeah you know pulled down in front of his face Like very like early 2000s emo Oh fun Cool

Jack makes it like a snapping his fingers And this big five foot symbol of like Green landing airship shows up And he says we'll give you this signal When we want you to come back So keep a lookout for us Agreed. Okay.

Doran, you ready to do this? I think you're feeling pumped? We're going to go. We're going to go down that ladder. How high do you think we're up right now? Just don't look down. All right. 500 feet.

Okay, 400 feet. Of course, he's on the edge, and he's got to start getting his feet. 350 feet. And starting to. Jack knows exactly how far away you are from the ground. So the ladder is dropped, and you begin to descend. The village is quiet, hemmed, in on all sides by the darkness

of the lurkwood. The trees seem like they're watching you, Doran, as you descend the rope ladder towards the ground. Who even decides to live in such a place? Who lives in the cold? Why do people live here? Why don't they move somewhere warmer? This is

ridiculous. You just dig a hole and live underground, right Doran? Absolutely. I don't know who lives above ground and all snow in round. Doesn't seem so bad. I've seen worse. Yeah, well, look down. You told me not to look down. Yeah, but if you do now, you'll know exactly. Don't look down. Don't look down. It was before I was upset. No, I mean, Doran. Are we close to the ground yet?

I don't know. I haven't looked at, and at that moment, my foot hits the ground. You know where you're walking on the stairs in the dark and you think there's another step, but there's not? So you do this awkward thing. You know, that's what Doran does. I think we might be cool. Ow! Yeah, we're down. All right. And Kralov looks around and tries to get his bearings as Jack gets down to the bottom of the latter two. We'll do a perception check. Mm-hmm. That's an 18 for perception. The figure that was spotted from

the airship is nowhere to be seen, although you do notice a couple of faces looking at you from a nearby house, just peering at you through the glass, illuminated by a single candle, and then they vanish.

Come on down, Red. It looks clear. I'm on my way! And Red climbs down the ladder after you and lands between the four of you, jumping off the last five steps. As Red gets to the bottom of the ladder, Kralath, in a really kind of solemn tone as he's looked around and it was kind of creepy. He's like, good move, brother. And he holds out like a low five to Red. Yeah, buddy.

And I give him some skin. It's pretty creepy down here, isn't it? Yeah. That person was in that manner window. Maybe we should approach. That one there? Yeah, and red sort of points and leads the way as the latter recedes. The frosty ground crunches underfoot as you make your way towards the mann house.

A large human man in a red velvet doublet strides out to meet you, his arms thrown wide. His eyes are dark and shining, his face is full and flushed rosy. Welcome to Pella's want, friends. I'm Curschid Breacher, mayor of this fine hamlet. And what excellent wares have you brought to my doorstep In possession of an airship such as this You must be traders or emissaries from a foreign land Come in, come in and tell me everything And the mayor beckons for you to follow him up

The gentle sloping lawn And away from a small crowd of peasants That have started to accumulate in curiosity and your presence Clearly the village seldom sees visitors Was this the person that I saw from the airship? No, this is not. Yeah, so I think we head inside. I think Doran is now learned at this point.

He just watches Red and he's thinking, what would Red do? He probably wouldn't say anything immediately about not being welcomed by the person that seemed to flag us down. Let's just see where this goes. Doran's internal thought. Good internal thoughts, Doran. Oh, shit.

That's a great move. That's exactly how I want to play. Was I saying that out loud? Yeah, you did say it all loud, but that's okay. No, it's fine. Yeah, and I think we follow him. the side sort of staying quiet. And it's funny because I do think there is a knowing glance between Dorn and Red where Red picks up exactly what Dorn is thinking. And there is a bit of

like a, ah, well done. The mayor's manor house is glimmering in the gathering dusk. A candelabra is lit in every window. You are led in past the richly appointed foyer through a long hall and into a dining room decked with floor to ceiling red drapes, exactly matching the color of mayor breechers waistcoat. The table is set for dinner, with root vegetable stew, roast venison, and cheeses arrayed attractively. The mayor was clearly in the middle of dinner when you had arrived, and so he seats himself back at the table with the help of a servant. There are two other guests here, a human man and woman, both in their 50s. The woman puts down her fork and nods politely to you as you sit down to join them and introduces herself as

Alette Candish. The man mumbles his own name around a mouthful of cheese, Renzo Addy. Is the table set for just the three? Yes. But the mayor motions for the four of you to sit down if you would like. Is that cheese? That looks good. It is. It is cheese. Can I have a piece of that cheese? Please be seated if you'd like. Doran pops up in a chair. Krayloth places his shield against the table and sits down and says, well, we thank you very much for your hospitality. My name is Krayloth.

This here is Jack, Doran and Red. Doran sort of in a very dwarven sense, just starts eating without much concern or regard for what everybody else is doing. What's your village called? Hell is Wants. It's one of the loveliest places you could have hoped to have landed. Is it? Is it?

Is it? Is it? It's so cold? It's mighty cold out there. Oh, I mean, the weather is quite cold, yes. I think Jack's standing back a little bit, hasn't really said much, because I think he's waiting to see if it's going to be helpful to tip his hand and be like, this guy's full of himself.

If I say, I'm a high-muck-de-muck-muck from Waterdeep, maybe that gets us one direction versus maybe we don't want to say that in another, so I just... Yeah. I think he's sort of taking... it in. He's trying to figure out how old has this house been here? Is the silverware actually nice or is it like the cheap stuff you buy when you want to

pretend to look nice? Is it an old building, a new building? He's just sort of looking around and almost purposely ignoring this guy. Jack, you get a sense that this manor house is well furnished despite meager means.

That the table linens being used aren't of the same quality as you would find in water deep necessarily. This is like standard country bumpkin type manor house. Red who's sitting next to Kraloth sees Jack eyeing the room and turns to this mayor and says everything seems pretty chilly up here, apart from your hospitality, of course. I'm wondering if there's anything we could help with beyond acting as meagre traitors.

Yeah, he puts down his fork gently And then dabs away a gob of gravy That's collected in the side of his mouth Before he answers you And he says This summer we saw a weak harvest And two months back we were set upon by a giant That destroyed much of our grain stores

Can you believe it? A giant of all things Yes, who would have thought? Kershid is distractedly picking some lint from his doublet. He's sort of pushing the food around on his plate. What I'm trying to tell you is that the village's taxes are due, which is why Elet and Renzo are dining with me this evening. Pleasure of your company, of course, and they both nod. We've only a week remaining before we must put together the livestock and grain we've got owing to the council in Mirabar, and the food that will remain is hardly enough to feed the village for another

month, much less the rest of the winter. Doran slows down when he's eating. Sort of putting it down. So, what can you do to help Pella's want survive the coming famine? When you landed, I first thought you must be traitors, but now, looking at you in the light, I can see your adventurers of some fine quality. I'm happy to pay as much as we can afford for a solution, though I'm sure good people like yourselves aren't solely motivated by a coin. Well, you ran straight into it then, didn't you?

I didn't realize you had so much for us to help with. And Red sort of sits back, his guard down a little bit, now that this guy is talking, Frank. Look, what kind of troubles do you have if it's just a giant that's been attacking? Is it the one time, or is it a repeat offense? Well, as I say, it was one time a couple of months ago, and the main issue is that we have taxes due. Do you have a sense of scope of your taxes, just so we, like,

what's the value that you owe? Willow. Do you have a... And red like shoots a look to Jack. We're not paying every town's tax. No. Alette, who is this hawkish, nervous-looking woman with closely cropped salt and pepper hair

and hollow cheeks speaks up. I believe the numbers are still being tabulated currently, but somewhere in the order of three dozen sheep and 20 bags of grain. She reaches

under the table and she's doing something and then a dog's head pops up. This basset hound is trying to climb onto her lap and she's like down, down. You mean this is not just money but actual things. Understood.

Ode to Mirabar. That is correct, yes. And throughout all of this Renzo is mowing through dinner. So in your ideal vision of our help, what can we do? Yeah, are we supposed to be raising sheep while we've landed here

for the night? There are many different ways, obviously, but we're curious to hear how you envision a solution. Well, there are many different ways that parties such as yourselves could help the village. I'm sure you have many such travails under your belt

as well. Foraging for wild game, creating food with magic powers, warming the land. We have a field of turnips that were caught in an early freeze that cannot be harvested. And then speaking out of the corner of his mouth, Renzo says, I hear there are some sick villagers that will die soon. Regardless of how much food is stored, they're eating food

that we could save. Maybe you could thin the herd a little. I think Red raises an eyebrow to Kralath sitting next to him. It doesn't even like hide it, just like. I think we all raise an eyebrow. Well, that's a bit extreme. He just shrugs and he's like, desperate time. Well, if you're willing to let us stay in your town and you're able to provide some shelter for us, we will look around and see if we can find ways to help. I think it's the least that we can do for the food that you've provided us, despite how scarce everything is. Of course.

I mean, there's lots of ways that we could potentially handle without having to go to such extreme measures. Have you had to do that before? Oh, no. Don't be ridiculous. Is there a baker in town? Oh, the orphanage. Yes. Look, and if you're looking for someone trustworthy to talk to you

to get a real feel about what's going on in town, you go to the most trustworthy member, which we've established as the baker. That's true. The door to the dining room bursts open with such force that several nearby candles are extinguished. A villager stands in the darkened doorway, hair plastered wetly to his scalp.

Frank panic written on his face. Please, my lord, come at once. So something terrible has happened to the sheep. Please, I beg you, it's awful, but blood is everywhere. Kirshin stands abruptly throwing down his napkin. Stop stammering, Zafri, take us there. Kirshed follows Zafri, and the tax collectors look at one another and then start donning their armor. Kralov explains a look with everybody of the party.

Red nods to Krayloff and looks towards the tax collectors. And in a low voice, he says, Does anyone get a weird feeling about those guys? They look pretty well armed for tax collectors. I mean, we don't know anything about them or their dynamic. I think the more we can learn from watching them, the better. Do we know they're really the tax collectors? Are they on the up and up?

Are they actually from Mirabar? Are they shaking the town down because they're actually... Are they the wizard? Is someone else, are they hunting the wizard who had the familiar there? That's a great question. You know what? Let me... And I think Red sort of turns around and just walks up to Renzo,

maybe with Jack even, because I feel like Jack would have more knowledge about what a tax collector is supposed to be. I feel like he's dated a tax collector. I used to date a tax collector. That's great. You know, when it's 28. Listen, everyone goes through a tax collector phase. If you're not turned on by columns and sums, let me tell you you're missing out. That's right.

Renzo, was it? My name's Red. Yes. Just curious, you said you're representing, is it Mirabar? Yes, I mean, I live here in the village, but we do tax collecting for the area. And so you go door-to-door essentially asking people for their dues? Yes, once a year. And how often does that have to get violent?

Rarely. But it has happened? Occasionally, people need a little bit of convincing. And you see that Alet and Renza are both carrying great swords. Can I rule insight on him just to sort of get the vibe of what he means by that? Sure. It's like dentists, right? Nobody loves the tax collector.

I'm, you know, I feel you that way with, never mind. 11. This guy's definitely got the predisposition for a tax collector. He looks like someone who might value the trappings of wealth, you know? People who give a shit about that thing. Whereas most of the villagers here would probably be more like salt at the earth kind of folks. True. You know, maybe he's got, like, kind of a ridiculous pendant.

And he's like, he's really big. He's a very tall, skinny man. And he's got wispy gray hair and stooped shoulders. Oh. All right. Well, thank you for answering our questions. Anyway, I guess we better follow. Seems like this place is in a lot of trouble.

Come on. Outside, the winter sun has just set, and the moon is clear. climbing into the sky, casting grim silver light. Snow is blown into drifts in places, creating odd forms that could cover who knows what. The villager holds his cloak closed tightly with his hands as he leads Mayor Kirschid along a trampled pound through a field. Now that we're outside, Jack brings Kieran back out of the pocket dimension

he was in to get down the ladder and lets him sort of sniff around the bushes as we walk it around. A few hundred yards from the manor house. you come to a wide wooden hut next to a gated pen. There's a single door in the hut, which hangs a jar, spilling dim light from inside. Nearby, two small bales of sweet grass lie abandoned in the snow. Inside, the dirt floor is covered with straw and dump, and the scent of blood hangs in the air. A single lantern hangs from the rafters and swings in the draft,

causing dark shadows inside to tilt and shift. in the center of the room stands a hulking brute of a man holding the flayed head of a sheep dripping blood he's looking into the sheep's glassy eyes a few other sheepheads lie scattered gruesomely in the head zaffrey is standing in the door i came down at sunset to bring feed to the sheep and i found fur thier and the sheep gone I asked him, what happened, and he was just saying they were dead. Then I came, and I fetched you, my lord. Mayor Kirshed is visibly rattled. His rosy complexion pales, a sheen of sweat coats his brow. What devilry is this, Firth?

What have you done with the sheep? The large man looks up to Kirshed and just does like a tiny shrug, and then looks back down to the sheep. sheephead. Kirshed tosses of coin purse at your feet, Jack, and he says, I hereby deputize you as members of Peliswant Militia. Detain this man until I return. Do not let him leave your sight.

With that, Kirshid Breacher turns, nearly bumping into Renzo and Alet, who have finally finished donning their armor and caught up with you. He brusquely orders them to follow him. The three head out into the night, the villager Zafri trailing behind, leaving you alone in the sheep barn. And I think I'd just like to take this moment, and we probably each will after our, each of our thanks. Oh, no, she's just, uh, she's just shouting you out. She's just gassing you today.

Did you imagine? It was just, just for Doran, two or three minutes on Alex, and away we go into the adventure. Yeah, I know. Thanks, guys. I've never had such a thorough and entertaining with all of your voices, dungeon master or game master. And that's including Harlan. So, you know, Harlan is great, but you're the thorough.

There's a real, like, we're walking the fine line on roast. It's just so... It's a compu salt. It's a compliment and an insult. I coined that. Thank you for creating such a wonderful world for us to play.