Dice Shame - 112 | 'Gong Show'

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

Return to the tribe, the team must ask for the artifact and find a way to retrieve it... 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.

Do I have feathers now? That was an interesting sensation. I think Jack just had an orgasm. I didn't like your O-face. It made me feel uncomfortable. It just slides down. No, no, not that one, Red. Not that one. It's the next thing. Why did I tie myself to this again?

Honeycrowns? Honeycrowns? You have to miss the honey crowns. I think it shows his character, though. I found it very accessible. Have you ever cooked on a fire end elemental? And it's got jam on it. He just said he killed the chieftain. I'll jump on the other side. Don't let it tip over. Yeah.

Did you have to wear your clean? today. It is ice in here. Sorry, I forgot about that. This battle cleats. Nice shame has been picked up as the early selection in the fiction podcast slash actual play category for the New Jersey Web Fest. We're delighted to be first pick and can't wait to see how many hundreds of trophies we win, if any. Thanks to the New Jersey Web Fest and thank you for listening. Yeah, thanks, everyone. All right, shall we do this?

Yeah, let's do it. So you're standing on top of the promontory, looking out over. the ice cavern, glimmering in the light from campfires below. The voice, representing itself as knowing the will of the ancestors, has spoken to you, Jack, and given you another task, kill Wormblood, the chief of the tribe. As the spirit quits speaking to Jack in his mind, he's rooting around through his pouch to find this token from Wormblood that we had acquired earlier and just starts talking out loud to the statues, so wherever we can hear and just starts telling the story of visiting the oracle and going into that room

and finding this white dragon and these members of the tribe trying to break it down and how we'd encountered them and red nudges him not to everyone he points down to all the onlookers who are like listen to this whole story well he said i tell everybody he said this hilarious image of him being like when we killed the chieftain well i was wondering is this conversation happening in your head? Because we can't hear the voice. No, no. So the voice telling him what is in his head. But once he pulls out the token from the chief, he's telling the story to the statue, but out loud so that everybody can hear it. But not everybody. The four of us. In the immediate vicinity. Most people. But they don't, they don't speak our language.

Oh, that's right. They don't speak. What Kevin does. Well, Kevin can know if she can hear from 60 feet, 80 feet above on Pride Rock. That's not that far, actually. The acoustics in here are amazing. Jack, even if you are speaking in like a moderate voice so that, you know, your companions all arrayed within 30 feet of you can hear, it's not going to echo down in a clear way to the floor of this chamber. I can read lips. He just said he killed the chieftain. Brought here speaking honestly tells the truth to this spirit. Did we learn its name was Elrom at some point? Elrod. Elron. Elron Hubbard, I believe.

Hubbard. L-R-O-M, I have E-L-R-O-M, but maybe I was a wrong... L-R-M. You were told that that is the Great Worm. Let me jump back for a minute, if you don't mind. Jack arrives at Nightstone, and when he gets there. Jack stops for a minute and, like, pulls in, goes into his peg and is looking through it, He's like, where is this brooch? I just threw it to the kid and like pulls out this brooch that he got off of wormblood and just starts talking out loud to the statue so everyone can hear and just starts telling the

story of visiting the worm tribe at the Oracle and what we saw them doing and how we have slain this chieftain. And I put the brooch down sort of at the base of this altar as a bit of an offering and step back. And then in your head you hear a to- and offered shall be rewarded. And you are overcome by a warm feeling. As if a sensation of feathers are brushing your face,

your arms, your torso, your legs. It's very pleasant. And you have been blessed with a charm. You hear... You are touched by the spirit of Elram, the great world. Yeah. All of us? Just Jack. Jack stands up and takes a step back for a minute and looks around at himself just to be like, am I,

what exactly does that mean trying to assess, like, do I have feathers now? That was an interesting sensation. Doran turns a crayloth and says, I think Jack just had an orgasm. He looks awfully odd. It was divine. Orgasm?

Oh, Kralath. Oh, no. Oh, buddy. You have the charm of restoration, Jack. Amazing. Beautiful. Yes, there you go. Greater restoration.

Jebis. Yeah, you know what we should do? We should get Jack trapped in stone again. Yeah. So Jack feels this restorative charm infuse in his body. Not unlike the awful bits of like stone giant stuff that infused him the last time he had a weird encounter with a thing. I think there's a part of his brain that's like categorizing all the different magics that infect him as he sort of maps out how it feels inside him. And this one is definitely

way more positive and interestingly draconic. What does it do? What did you learn, Jack? What it do, though? What it do, though? Yeah, Jack, you all right? Doran says he looked like you had an orgasm, whatever that is. Yeah. Oh, Kralov. You remember that spell that broke the curse that was in the ring? Yeah. I think the spirit that lives here just gave me a power a little bit like that, the ability to break curses and restore people. Restore people? Wait a minute.

That means we could go back to that stone giant that we found and bring that elf back to life, remember? Yeah. Like in episode 13 or something? Yeah. It's been a long time, but I keep really detailed notes. Like 30 months ago. Yeah.

I mean, in real life, but in, That was before Simba became an adult. I remember that like it was two years ago. That's right. No, remember there was an elf and he was trapped in the stone giant? Despite we killing him, we needed greater restoration to bring him back. I think that should be something we do, the poor guy. If we do pass by that area in our travels, I definitely agree.

It's not far once we get to water deep, I don't think. I mean, think about this. Imagine if that were Jack still trapped in the stomach of that. stone giant. I've been there and it's unpleasant and the sooner we can rescue this poor soul the better. Agreed. Jack's going to try to reach out to

Elrem and just sort of say, we're on a quest to save as much as we can of this part of the world and that hanging artifact down there might help us do that. I would hate to ask for one more blessing after you've just been so generous but I'd ask that we could take it

with us. It is yours. What's Oz, Red says, as he's, like, yanking this tapestry down and, like, rolling it up and, like, shoving it into the bag. Well, it's not a tapestry, so that's the thing. He's pulling a tapestry. No, no, not that one, Red. Not that one. It's the next thing. What? Okay. He walks over to, like, another old tapestry and pulls it down and rolls it up. There's, like, there's like a corpse wrapped. A wall of 75 tapestries. There's a corpse that's, like, in funerary. wrappings and red just like unrolls the corpse to take all the fabric all the bones just go flying over

the pride rock thing and that's mine and that's mine um yeah so at the back of this cave there is a crescent shaped gong in a crude stone frame it's a circular disc 13 feet in diameter so it's a big thing it's a circular disc that was broken at some time it looks like. Now it's missing a large piece. So Crescent shaped. What remains of it is probably just north of 200 pounds. Whoa. And yeah, it's very curious construction. Say, Jack, ask you a brain friend if we can ring it. I don't know that I want to ask any more of this. Maybe once we get it away from here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, just ask it. Red walks over and looks at the big gong. I think while you guys are having this discussion,

Doran kind of walks up and analyzes that, because it's stone entirely or just the outer rim is stone? The face of this artifact is made of red dragon scales. You see now just by approaching it, examining it closely. And the scales seem to be bolted to this copper frame underneath. and the rim of it is stone frame. And that's what I'd like to roll a stone cutting on. Sure.

To see, that's going to be a 19? Yeah, this is worked stone. Its origin is difficult for you to piece together, but it looks like it's probably something that you would actually recognize quite well. this is an ancient giant-sized shield that was broken in battle. You would expect that on the rear of this piece, maybe there would even be some arm straps. Doran steps up as Jack is mumbling to his ghost people world and runs his hand along the edge of the piece and he says out loud, This was a giant's shield.

It's been broken. And then as he steps around back, he does see, you know, an arm strap. One of them is maybe long gone, but there's another that's warped by ice and time. Leather. Do you strike the gong, Red? Look, we have a new democratic process here. Let's vote. Who would like me to ring it?

And Red raises his hand. Greloth raises his hand. Looks around. It's on you two. Jacob stains. It's on you, Doran. Doran's not paying any attention, really, to the fact that you want to ring it.

He's just feeling the Red Dragon scales. He's really into the workmanship. Hey, Doran, raise your hand for a second. His hand goes up the edge of the stone, and you take that as him raising his hand. All right. And Red does a roundhouse kick and rings it with his foot. Ha!

Boon! The deep tone of this gong echoes through the cavern and causes a few large icicles to break away from the ceiling and crash down onto the icy floor, causing no damage to the people below, but maybe a couple of folks shout. It's all right. Worth it. All right.

How are we going to get this thing out of here? Giant Doren ape? If we used the rod of the Von and Dodd, do you think we could find the other half? We could. You think it's around here? It might be. Doesn't the Ron and Vonidod only... What was that torn?

The what? Doesn't it only find... Doesn't it only find... Doesn't Kurt Vonnegut... That anatonium or whatever that material is? It's Adamantian. Jesus, where are you? You're a blacksmith once.

This is made of copper and... Onobtainium. So the rod of the Vonidot is particularly good at finding adamantium objects. It has a much extended range, but it's still good at finding things that you are specifically looking for and knowing the other half of the shield exists. We could look for that.

I mean, I forgive you. It's certainly a nuanced piece of magic. But what on earth would it look like, Jack? We only have half of the shield. Well, as long as we can get it onto the airship, there's no reason why we can't leave it up there. We don't need to stuff it all in the bag of holding. I don't want to do bag of holding.

I think we should do ape during to get the same. This is 13 feet in diameter. We're not going to fit it in the bag. I think it'd be funnier to have like a big ape trying to get it on top of the airship. I think we just roll it down the wrong. Like a toboggan. Right out the front door. We could levitate it out.

Yeah, but a giant ape. Giant ape is also great. Giant ape's fun. Imagine him climbing down the side of the wall of ice. It's hilarious. And them just seeing this giant ape. I'm curious about the other half, just because there was two halves of the mask

that were there that we needed both of. Why don't we use the rod on the airship? It might be like right here, though. Oh, yeah, maybe it is. Okay. The other half of the mask was just buried two feet deeper than the first one. Oh, okay. In that case, yeah.

It will take someone an hour to attune, but you can definitely go for it, right? We have an hour to be up here and be spiritual. We just communed with their fucking dragon god and had an orgasm because we got blessed. It's a whole thing. Listen, no one had an orgasm but you, Jack. We all standing here had to watch awkwardly. I'm sorry that it's cold for you guys up here, and I'm... I didn't like your O-face. It made me feel uncomfortable.

While you're attuning, Doran, why don't you give me a hand just getting this down. Yeah. We should be able to do with the two of us. And I'll get some of these tapestries. Yeah.

Doren, like, using your hand as a step, he climbs and stands on your shoulders, as we have done before. Oh, yeah. Easily slices the rope that's holding the piece up.

It just slides down. I got it. I got it. I'll jump on the other side. Don't let it tip over. Did you have to wear your cleats today? Well, it is ice in here.

Sorry, I forgot about that. But your armors, your armor's strong and thick. Battle cleats? I guess so. You're going to have to hammer out those things, though. You know I will. Let's see if we should roll it down the ramp here. Wait, we roll in it.

Hold on. Maybe you should get off my shoulders before we try rolling it. Oh, yeah. Doran jumps down and runs through the round to the other side, so it doesn't tip the other way. And Red's like, all right, all right. He walks over, and rather than helping, he just rings the gun. long again. Boom!

More icicles. 200 piercing damage. Kralov is down. Nice. It's a tepee. Diamonds of mine. Diamond cream. An hour later, Jack attunes to the rod of the Von and Dodd, and you're looking for the

the second piece of this? Yeah, he carefully pictures what he imagines the other piece of the shield should look like and uses the power of the rod and the rod of the von and dod to see if it's within a thousand feet of us. Unlike with the mask, there does not appear to be a complementary piece of this artifact. Yeah, I think feeling satisfied, he thanks silently Elrim for their blessing and the time spend up here and starts to like pack up kind of kind of solemnly like as respectful as he can be looking at the shenanigans of his of his friends while that's

going on I feel like Kraloth and Dorn are not even thinking about either the giant ape or the or levitate we're like rope and he's like throwing it through the broken part so that we can like roll it slowly down this slow if we both hold it hold the rope together we should be able to inch it down lower it down by bit red just leaning against a snow pile eating an apple watching. No, you're not going to do it that way. Just like commenting shittily every once in a while. Oh, you almost got it, Doran.

Yeah. And it's like, where they sweat beads were like about to let this thing start to go down. We had like 18 ropes and it's like tied around my waist and tied around this. It's kind of like a whole lever action. Oh, yeah, you got it. You got the weight. So it might start swinging at some point, Doran. So, so make sure you, you got to be prepared.

for that. You've got to be prepared, all right? Yeah, well, why did I tie myself to this again? Now the questions are starting to go through Doran's mind. And the gong just, it descends properly for the first two-thirds and then for the last 20 feet, one of the rope snaps and it like pivots and starts to swing a little bit. And Doran, maybe you're like pulled off of the ledge as you're like tied to this gong for some reason.

And it's a real scenario. And then I'm going to go. And then there's someone down. I'm just picturing like two people down there just like, and these are the people that are going to save the world? And then I picture it's like about to fall and one of you performs a levitate and it just like, oh, I'll do it. Someone does it.

Oh, oh, God, it's going to. Nope, Jack's just like, I'm good. Bye, Doran. I thought you just said you were going to do it, right? I don't have levitate. The only one who could levitate is. I was joking because no one has it. But Jack.

And that's only if he's prepared it. I do have it prepared because it's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah, so I... Jack, you got this, right? And he's like, nope. He's looking at tapestry. Jack comes over after his respectful moment.

You know, is trying to hand this like 100 pound rod off to red to go back in the bag of storing and then like shit starts to go south the ropes are breaking dorin's flung off the edge for a second and just as he's about to leave that 60 feet away from jack he's able to you know whip out his wand flick in a swish cast a spell and dorin starts to grow and grow and grow until dorin's like feet hit the ground and he's able to catch the thing as a very giant ape-like Doran. Yeah. And Doran lifts the shield above his head and kind of exclaims.

He's got it. And all of the people start running and screaming. Flea into the caverns. He puts the, Doren puts the shield on his arm with at least the one strap that's still there and begins to carry it out of the cave leading the... Sure. Cool. Forreesome. Before you leave, Andazar the Zor hobbles over.

Leaving so soon. Where are you off to next? Well, next we're heading a little bit south, I think, east-south, east-ish. We're going to another one of these cool barbarian mounds. You're welcome to come if you want. Oh, well, that would, that would be marvelous, frankly. What manner of transportation do you employ? Good.

Uh, cult boat. Um, beg your pardon. It's a, it's a, it's a, dragon's airship. Yeah, based on the cult of the Red Dragon Clouth. It's a, it's a, yeah, we feel, we feel exactly that conflicted about it. Yeah. I don't. It's marvelous.

Doran, you're not an ape anymore. Doran's like pointing at the sky. He's just really enjoying, feeling like an ape, so... We'd love to have you along, if you'd like, absolutely. Sure. I would greatly appreciate that. Well, that sounds wonderful. I would greatly appreciate the chance to travel with adventures such as yourselves.

Oh, well. Equipped with a flying machine, you say. And it would make easy my path. Well, perfect. Is there a specific place you're going to, or just kind of middling about? I'm headed to Evelyn next, I'm hoping, but I'm happy to be dropped anywhere south of the spine. Jack hates Evelyn, so. Oh, you do. It's a long story.

Well, we'll have a long trip for the story. Yeah. Lots of time for the telling of tales and such. Yes, come on, our ape is getting away from us. Doren! I'll just collect my things and say something. some goodbyes. Such lovely people. I'll catch up with you in just a moment. He scuttles off into the darkness. Kieran, come on. Woof. Don't give me that. We have to go. Woof! So you signal the airship.

It lets down its ladders for ascent. And Azar hobbles once in a circle around his walking stick and this golden lattice springs forth. It weaves itself into a reclining chair. and he just gets in. And he's gently levitated up alongside the ladder. Holy shit, Jack. That's a wizard. Oh, no.

That's not what this guy's for. You want to see how to be a wizard, Jack? This is how you fucking wizard. No, I just love the idea. Like, it's so ostentatious, is the other word? It's so, like, over the top. Yeah, that it's just kind of funny to think that that's sort of like.

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. That's an anthropologist for you. It kind of makes sense in a way. You know, you got this really old guy that, like, can't do that anymore and isn't adventuring. So, like, what else do you do with your powers? Most of his spell slots are about, like, accessibility.

Yeah. Make font bigger, level four. I think it shows his character, though, that he's like, he's like, oh, like, oh, I wouldn't mind. Like, maybe, yeah, I'll join you. And then he's just so comfortable with, like, okay, I'm just going to sit back and, uh, Enjoy this airship ride. I know you said it's like a gold.

I'm picturing like a lazy boy recliner. Yeah, but not even like a fresh one. Like an old smoke covered one, you know, like in someone's house. The Homer Simpson recliner. Yeah.

Anyway, yeah, Red climbs up as well. So this like two ton great ape holding a 200 pound shield grabs hold of the ladder. And, oh no. The airship. The airship starts to tilt a little bit

and you hear like some whirring deep within the ship. as it's trying to regain its balance. Someone from the deck of the ship looks over and starts yelling something you can't hear, but... It's okay. Increase the hot air! I love the idea that maybe the old wizard

levitates it and like brings it up the rest of the way for us. He's like, well, I'm an NPC. I don't have to worry about spell slots. Here we go! We get it up. You'd crash it. You pull it down like a helium balloon,

put the shield on top. That's right. King Kong style. I love that he pulls it down, puts it on top, and Jack dismisses the spell so the thing floats up and Doran gets smaller. Yeah, while hanging out of the ladder. Oh, my God.

That's not what Doran says. You went too far past. He got him too small. Pocket-sized Doran. There's like a moment where it's like real. Sorry, Doran. Can polymorph make him smaller too? Well, he can.

Do you have enlarge reduce? I don't. That would be good, too. Oh, next time. I want pocket-sized Doran. So, once again, Klaus airship carries you on your whims, the crew of cultists masterfully steering and maintaining the ship according to its needs. And we spend some days traveling through the air once more.

Andesar has created a corner to himself below decks, stringing an illusory curtain from the ceiling for privacy. He's almost always found in the galley beside the stove to keep warm. He's reading or writing all the time and sometimes curiously muttering into the stove itself. I love the idea that, you know, at certain times you can see Redd sitting on a stool across from this man, you know, shale on his lap and they're sort of talking deeply, maybe even Indraconic at times, you know,

Red sort of getting to bounce ideas off of him. But, you know, to listen in, the ideas are always weird, kind of silly, different ideas that Red has about like dreams. and what wizards actually are. It's always the same nonsense that you've seen, but Red does seem sort of excited to distance himself from the other three for some reason. And I think that no matter what the conversation, Endezar, is willing to get as strange and esoteric

as your logic may require, whether or not it actually makes sense to his worldview, he's like very willing to, like, do thought experiments sort of deal. Maybe he and Red bond over the fact that he knows about Mazdica. Maybe he's been there even, you know? And he's like, oh, and the purple trees, the purple trees. Oh, yes. This time of year, I believe, they're just losing their blue. Yes, yeah, you get it. See, you get it. He gets a Krayloff. Oh, it's so nice to talk about the crazy things that I miss over there, you know. It's been so long. Kralov is just cooking in the kitchen

and preparing a nice meal. What's your favorite type of food there, uh, Andesar? Oh, I'm not really one for the culinary delights. I usually just eat whatever is in front of me. Oh, okay. I do like comfort food, so anything warm is... Honey crowns? Honey crowns? You have to miss the honey crowns.

I do. I am partial. A fresh one plucked right off the plant. Oh, nothing is better. But the porridge that is made from the honey crown, I am quite fond of. Yes, with narvel root on top. I don't have any honeycrowns with me right now, but if I ever go to Mazdica,

I'll definitely be sure to harvest some. I'll take you there one day, friend, when all this is over? Oh, I would love to go. It sounds fantastic. I'm imagining Jack, like, spying this pile of books. There's even spying on, like, in Leibbiz, you know, like Kiff where he, like, leans out watches and leans back.

Jack, it's past your bedtime. Jack is also in line for like a moment with with the new wizard on board and you know on the sense of like that while you know he's this guy's also clearly got sensibility is very aligned with the sorts of thing Jack's interested in but he's trying not to like stomp on Red's new friendship either is there any competition though I can kind of picture and be like you got you got you got mold earth yeah you got restoration and you got do you got you got um you got you got you got um you got you got sure you got you got you got um shield. I mean, Jack's happy to sit by the fire. We've, we picked up this damaged book from the aerialist tower. And I think one of, amongst learning the flute, Jack is also trying to just like repair this old interesting book and has his own interesting books of, of things out and around. And just trying to see if like, I can be interesting too. We'll, we'll see what this guy cares about. And I'm just doing nothing over here. If you've got books, if you've got books out for the loaning and Azar is greedy for them. Yeah. He's like, oh, oh, oh.

so if you're done with this what I've never read you might not have read a lot of these we recovered them from this netherese tomb they've been buried their original netheries texts from a wizards tower they're incredible I even just Red you've got that one I lent you about the illusions right yeah yeah of course I do

the you know the copy of Asimar's Guide to the Fantastic that I lent you that, you know, that was... Oh, yeah! Red reaches in the bag of holding, you hear, like, things breaking, and he pulls it out, and there's, like, jam on the cover,

and he, like, wipes it off, and he's like, it's a bit of sticky. Endesar actually takes the book, and he's like, this is... This is exactly like the books you read in school, but it's kind of got this interesting, light-hearted tone. Like, I never had a book that was so...

I found it very accessible. And it's got jam on it. It does have jam, yes. Well, if you don't mind, I would love to spend some time with this particular book. We've got some time while we're flying here. I'm happy to loan it out, you know, and maybe there's some other things we could teach each other. I don't know if you, I've developed a couple interesting spells in my travels. I don't know if that's of interest.

He gives you kind of a vague nod. Kralath actually, you know, looks over and sees some of those books and says, you wouldn't happen to have any cooking recipes. You can come across any new travels. I imagine you haven't tried them since you don't... It doesn't stick in my mind as such. But if you'd like, this book here, I do recall having some very interesting descriptions of campfire food. And he hands you a copy of the compiled histories of the Highwayman,

True and honest accounts. Hmm. Oh, all right. Yeah, I'll take a look at it. Thank you very much. Of course. Doran, your turn. I push him up to the wizard.

Doren doesn't really... For you, I have the greatest gift of all. Bum blush concealer. Well, Doran sort of sits, and he's a little solemn. He smokes a cigarette, and he has his notebook out in front of him. But, you know, if you were watching Dorn... from afar you see he's got the book out and open in front of him but he stares past the book at the ground sort of his own thoughts mm-hmm and azar is also in the galley with crayloth and dorin

and he is staring deep into the flames similar to dorin kind of enjoying a bit of old man quiet and then he turns to the two of you and he says the creature in there is Cendis, the trapped inside the furnace. They're named Cendis. Fire elemental. Do you speak elemental? Maybe that's what Jars Doren's out of his deep thought, and he looks over across the stove at the wizard,

and he says, Are you talking to someone in the stove? I'm not speaking back, but it is none too pleased at having been bound inside the airship. Yes, there is a creature inside.

There's something angry stuck inside this stove? Have you never forged on a stove powered by a fire elemental? I suppose not, but you would have noticed there is no fuel aboard, I'm sure. Although...

Well... Your attention seemed to be gathered elsewhere, Master Dwarf, if you don't mind me saying so. Yeah, um, it's, uh, you're right. I, I, I hadn't even noticed that nobody stoked the fire. And I, I, I didn't, I didn't reconsider. And I don't think I've ever forged on a, what is it, some sort of demon? Or? It's, it's, it's a fire elemental. Oh. It's currently detailing for me the destruction. They will wreak upon us all. Should they ever be freed? Servitude rarely improves one's mental or emotional state,

and Sandus is no different, not terribly forward-thinking, to be honest, to be so free about the consequence that they would offer us, but here we are. Sendis keeps this air shift aloft and warm and fed. Doreen kind of looks at Kraloth. Well, that's interesting. Have you ever cooked on a fire end elemental? Creeloth?

Can't say that I have, but I will say that Cendis is keeping this pork belly really evenly cooked. The ethical implications of this are rather questionable. I would tend to agree. Yeah.

If you were able to hear his threats, perhaps you would feel differently. Oh yes, and he peeks into the grate of the furnace through which you can see angry tendrils of flame. Yes, thank you, Sendus. I'm afraid there will be no burning to a crisp today.

Yeah. There is a second elemental aboard as well. An air elemental named Cycloneus, who governs the propulsion of the craft. Similarly to Sendus, Cycloneus also is promising our swift demise. How do they keep them in line? Is there some sort of wizard here, dragon magic? I am no dragon expert, but I am. I would presume that, yes,

Klaus' power would keep these creatures in check. I have no real experience with dragons. In fact, I credit my long years partly to staying out of their way. No desire to be fried to a crisp. Yeah, that makes two of us. But I can tell you, they're certainly an impressive

creature. I may not like them, but I can respect what they do and what they stand for. And here we have it. Some cardam-spiced pork belly with green beans and a nice side of potato mash. Oh, smells absolutely delightful, Crayloth. It's wonderful what you can do with food. Hey, don't thank me. Thanks, Sendis. Oh, well, yes, shall we eat? Mm-hmm.

It gets late. Everyone enjoys their dinner, and as we are all falling asleep, maybe we share some stories together and after a time and is our shares one of his he says stories are dangerous things a misplaced tale here or there can enter the wrong ear perhaps set a catastrophe into motion all it takes is a word to inspire avarice or to ignite the glorious flame of passion i have always been lured and seduced by stories. Perhaps you, Doran, have heard of the fallen lands, for they unspool from the rocky ground not far from your home in the Great Peak Mountains. I traveled there myself, or should I say thanks to my mount, a chestnut mare named Shera. One of the most loyal creatures I've ever met. The fallen lands called to me because I'd never been,

and having found myself in loud water for a time, where I'd been conspiring with a botanist friend of mine, I made up my mind to see for myself if the stories were true. Picture me, perhaps 50 years younger than I am today, astride the lovely Shera. The fallen lands feature in places a carpet of tall grass, nearly to Shera's belly. At times I drag my feet through them

in the afternoon, churning up a cloud of grasshoppers. On the hillsides, poking up like a rare island in this sea of grassland, dark stonework ruins occasionally hint at the land's history. I nearly brained myself on a piece of one as I sat down for the night. It's said in the stories that these lands were one time, a part of an ancient realm of sages and magicians.

Netherese, Jack, and I found that after dark the grasses were home to strange moats of light, odd after effects and illusions, like a memory of a spell long dissolved. At the lighting of the campfire one night,

I conjured the flame, as usual, just so. And he produces a flame a flame on his hand that brilliantly illuminates the cabin of the airship, only to find Chera and myself shrunk down to the size of a housecat, or smaller, in the wavering grass. Courageous Shera allowed me to ride her to the safety atop a fallen tree somewhere nearby, and we looked at the stars together until we regained our regular stature, I'd say ten minutes or so. Fyroon holds many surprises, my young friends, as it did for Shara and me that night.

And I hope that you all can find some glory on your way. It's a good thought on stories. Stories certainly can jar certain feelings. speak dwarf sorry i feel like that's demeaning maybe you can just call him dorin you know it's his name i'm not calling you hey man i am sorry i don't mean to be reductive no no no no it's okay i uh well i mean i just i guess i'm just you know there are lots of stories to be told and i guess one part of me thinks why tell stories just live in the moment forget about the past There's always better things

Coming in the future Right Right I hope so Yes No sense in dredging up the past To an extent I mean of course

Us Tabaxis Have tons of stories But I wouldn't want To pour you all with them Oh please red I would love to hear something From your repertoire Well

I suppose I could do a quick one One that maybe they've never heard before Twelve hours later Fair enough This is a tale of a Hellwalker It's a tale of Tabaxi culture About a tobaccoxie that passed away And entered the realm of dreams

And death and fire He walked across the Solomon Plains Flatlands in the north of where you go When you pass away They say the grounds are so hot They sear your flesh or your fur It sticks to the bottom of your skinnicate light a wooden torch with merely touching the wood to it.

The ground, they say, which was once sand, has been turned to glass, as black is cinded bone. And a town lies on the edge of this field, a town called Hope. But it's rarely one to cross alone. You're meant to enter this world with friends. But he crossed it, this Hellwalker. He was a humble traveler. and his power, you know, to carry him forward was immeasurable. He said his bones were made of stone because no matter the pain, he didn't stop.

He kept pushing forward until he reached the end of the plains, the edge of the glass-like land, having seared the bottom of his flesh, and arriving at hope. It's sort of a story about persevering through even the darkest times, no matter how terrible the pain, no matter how tragic, what might befall you. It's about always pushing forward, for hope lies on the edge of any fiery desert. That's quite beautiful, Red. Well, it's just a story. And I think it goes to show, contrary to Doran's assertion, that there is value in storytelling,

that we can learn from this oral tradition, even if the stories are, Hyperbolic, shall we say. Or is this meant to be a true telling, Red? You know, when I was younger, I believed it was a true telling, but now I, not so much. I think the moral is what's meant to ring through. I like it very much. Thank you. Anyone else have a tale.

Well, mine got cut off, as I said, but... How'd that happen? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I would never tell anybody. He winked at Doran. Ah. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Well, I suppose that's...

it for me. It's been wonderful having you along with us. Oh, thank you very much. Oh, good meal Kraloff. Good night, friends. And Red heads off to his bunk. There's just the sound of farts underneath the covers. Yeah. The creaking.

Yeah, it's the creaking of the ship. Beautiful ambience. I love that. Good night, Dorn. Good night. Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Christopher Ryan Evans, Merlin, Mitchell Cadwell, Ashley and J.B, Michael and Brianna Weber, Colin Burkatt, Daniel, Doug, Jessica Orrett, Jonah Goldman, and Mari Kineski. See you soon!