Dice Shame - 125 | 'Last Night - Jack of All Trades'

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

As the boys each go their separate ways, Jack investigates a lead in Silverymoon... 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.

Hello, my name is Jack Page. Jack Page. LaFander's Light, you're here. Oh, my God. Jack, I sold the Copper Cup. I'm part of the Nightstone 4. I don't know what that means. I knew it!

You know, I was pissed before, but he is going to thunderstep out of here because fuck this guy in particular. 5D6 Thunder Damage. Welcome back to Dyshame. This is episode 125, last night, part one, Jack of All Traits. MVP this week is Nickyus, spelled N1C1 U.S., who found the show through malevolent and is making his way through our back catalog. Thanks for joining us on Discord, Nickyus. Welcome to the party, pal. InvictusCon is back for the third year running. Join us, the creators of Dyshame, malevolent, and the Invictus stream as we hang out on March 25th to 28. for RPGs, panels, video games, social events,

an artist alley, and more. It's 100% virtual and 100% free. So there's literally no reason not to attend. We checked. Right now, it's time to sign up to play RPGs. We've been opening registration to the Patreon tiers this week in descending order, and public registration starts this Saturday, March 5th.

Join our Discord server for all the details, or check out the website at www.dyshamepodcast.com. Slash. InvictusCon. All right. Should we get down to business? Let's do it. Torin walks down the stairs and enters the dining room.

He's looking very handsome tonight, if somewhat uncomfortable to be here. That's Torin. Lathander's Light, you're here. Oh, my God. Yeah, I think Jack sort of jumps into his. arms from halfway across the room just like it's right over there jumps into his arm and then kieran runs over and jumps into jack's arms yeah it's a whole i think we tumble down onto the stairs it's just a whole pile oh oh that's so nice to see these reunions isn't it red so unreserved of you

jack isn't it kreelah oh yeah and kreloff had a distant look on his face until doran reached out to him and he says, oh, oh, yes, yes, it's, yeah, yeah, that's Torin, right? Of course it's Torin, bud. Yeah, Torin, you, yeah, hi, Torin, it's been so long, how you're doing? The three of you in a pile, well, this was awfully nice of you, Red says, turning to Jack's mom. Yeah, she's like standing with her hands on the back of an armchair regarding all of you. She's like, I saw you on your way here. I'd bring Torin up to make it three.

Of course, your associates are welcome as well. Six is a fine number for today. Not as good as three, but perfectly fine. So kind of you. My goodness, your family is so hospitable, Jack. And Doreen kind of trumps into the room, muddy boots and all it, sits down on the couch, muddy feet, and puts them up on the table, on the coffee table. Yeah, Red sits next. to him as well, but, like, sits on the arm of the couch instead of the actual, like, cushion

of it. Swell dakes, yeah, nice fire you got going here. I tell you, it's a little cool outside tonight, isn't it? Yeah. And, um, Krayloth, Kralov kind of looks around, um, just out of curiosity. Are there any Lathander idols? No. Maybe some, like, weird elven gods, though.

But maybe not, like... This is Boris. This is Stelve? The elven god, Boris. A servant woman enters and informs the lady Lelahar that the evening meal is prepared. And Kimara drifts over to the table and asks everyone to be seated. Ah, swell some food. Yeah.

Reddin, not just Doran and leaps towards the table. And drink too? Jack grabs Torin's hand and leads him over to the table somewhere and takes a seat sort of somewhere down near his mom. Yeah, Torin, like, pulls his chair, like, so that he's sitting about four inches from your left side. Kraloff is kind of standing in the corner of the room looking at a painting, but not really looking at it, almost as if he didn't even hear the announcement of dinner. Krayloft, grabs on. Yes. And Red puts both, like, muddy paws on the table, holding knives and forks, like, as if he's like a kid.

Oh, oh, yes, yes, dinner. Ah, hmm. Yum. And Kralov sits down at the table and awkwardly pulls himself in. And I feel like he's like way bigger than this table. Yeah. It's really like dainty and beautifully finely carved trim. And Kralov just pulls himself up to it.

Yeah. The staff sets out extra plates and cutlery and things and then starts bringing out food family style. So there's like a large bowl of winter greens, some fragrant, clear broth soup, herb flatbreads, and some like white fish that smells sort of citrusy. And Kimara gestures for you all, please help yourselves. She just leans back in her tall chair and kind of observes you all. Oh, this looks delicious. I can't wait for the main entree!

And Doran starts diving in with to the fish. And Red Lake is like creaning over the table trying to look for like the main goods. Where's the duck and the turkey? Jack slips a piece of the bread to Kieran and sort of sends him a little mental nudge to maybe go put his head in Kralath's lap for a minute just to keep him present. That's nice.

When Kieran's head is placed on Kralat's lap, Kralov looks down and he sees Kieran's big brown eyes looking up at him. And he kind of looks around nervously and just slowly lowers his hand and looks like he's going to pet Kieran, but instead he moves it to the hilt of his mace

and he just holds it there for a moment and then a big grin fills his face and he says, oh, Kieran, oh, what a good doggy oh, you're so sweet.

Food, yes, oh, food. Oh, my favorite. Oh, are those dumplings? Mmm, I'm going to try those. No, they're not. Kralat, they're not dumplings. No? It's bread. There's all bread here, this white fish here. It's just regular bread, not filling with it. But look, and Doreen grabs a piece of bread and throws it in the broth.

And he's like, now you've got dumplings. D'Rong, D'Rin. It's like this overly rowdiness. You're putting your hands right in the soup. Come on, at least wipe them first. Look. Oh, I'm sorry. He takes a napkin and wipes the mud off of Doren's hand before Doreen continues to paw the food.

You see this like very kind of austere elven woman has portioned herself out this like tiny portion of the clear soup in this little bowl and she's just like holding it and kind of savoring in the warmth of it and watching you all messly serve yourselves this very elegant kind of modern type elven food oh fuck should we pray there's a really interesting tension between torren and kamara who have both served this group of people at their various establishments and i'm sure there's Jack just trying to inch a little bit out of the glares they are giving them each other knowing looks their own version of the knowing looks were oh shit sorry jack say something prairie i don't know i would maybe we went to

dorin we're too much on the road we got to be more civilized be yourselves guys it's it's okay um hey you hear that doran we can really go for it oh right and dorin reaches over and grabs a bottle of wine that's on like the sideboard and he just, like, it's not even open. He's like, oh, all right, and he shoves it in his pocket. That's great. The first touch of civilization we've seen in a while, Mom. Thanks for putting us up.

Of course, Eve. It is my pleasure. Why don't you tell me a little about all of you? I would love to get to know some of you better. Well, she, me and Dawn here, well, so like the brains of the group. insofar as, well, the way we sort of approach problems. See, Doran tells her how you did Grudhog and all that.

Well, you see, I am an ex-officer from the military. And, you see, when we do things, we like to plant it. And so, oh, by the way, this fish, it's delicious. And so is this broth. It's pretty good. Yeah, he's got some brains too. Don't spoil your food. Geez, sorry.

Yeah, sorry, I've been chewing on this. And Krayloth over here. Krayloth, well, Krayloth is, well, he's the biggest one of the group and he's also the holiest one of the group. Right? Doren sort of pats you on the back, you know.

Oh, yes, yes. I wouldn't want to bore you with all the details of myself. I would like to learn about you. What was it like raising Jack? Oh, I mean, and Red tries to kick Kralath under the table, but he accidentally kicks Doren. Oh. Oh, sorry, shit.

Lady Layla Thar clears her throat delicately. Well, you see, Mascar actually was Jack's primary caregiver throughout his young life. Oh, caregiver. It was only a couple of years, and we spent holidays here all the time. You know, it was just whisked away to Silvery Moon into this lovely place. I tried my best at all times to give Jack an education in the magical arts and to broaden his perspectives, but much of the rearing, I'm afraid, was given over to my, well, to maskar. That makes a lot of sense, yeah.

Oh, I would say, yeah, education, man, he certainly has a lot of education. You're all welcome to stay here for the night, if you like. I'm not sure if you have any other plans. Hey, no fooling. Really? You don't mind? It's Red's new catchphrase. For some reason, Red has regressed in this episode to like 1920s mixed of like little rascal's slay.

He's just really feeling like he's got to step up in the fancy somehow and that's what fancy felt like to him. He's like, oh yeah, fancy, like water deep. You know, all the people I hung up with there. Okay, let me channel that. Oh, my God, I love that. I love the idea of Red's more fancy talk is like, Little Rascals era like, you gotta get you this and no fooling, misters? Yeah.

So cute. No fooling we can stay here. That sounds wonderful. We're in. Dorn and I can take a room. Yeah, yeah. And are you going to be having a band show up later so we can, you know, have a good time and all that sort of thing?

Yeah, we heard there's a party. We're ready to party. Yeah, we're ready to have a good time. Well, seeing as it is already quite late, I, um, unfortunately, the revelry will have to wait until another day. Ah, shit. Oh, well. Well, put it this way.

Well, I mean, thank you. We'll certainly spend the night. Yes. But maybe we'll do something else. And find a... I apologize if this is rude lady Lela Thar, but I actually... I'm feeling rather... I would just like to have a room to myself this evening.

evening. And I just, I would prefer to stay at just the local inn personally, but I, I, I appreciate you. I do thank you for your hospitality and this, this meal is, uh, and Krayloff looks down at his plate and it's barely been touched. And he quickly puts a little carrot into his mouth and says, um, delicious, absolutely delicious. Um, I see. Yes, but, um, I'm, I'm certain that we will cross paths again in the morning, and Krayloff goes back to the moment that she shook hands with him at the door and that tension that was there. It's still there, bubbling. All of a sudden, even though he's gripping the pommel of his mace, he just, he starts to

feel really tense. And he says, oh, I actually am, if you'll excuse me, I am starting to lose my appetite a little bit, but, but, uh, I thank you so much for your hospitality. You've been so kind. Red, Doran, Jack. I hope you enjoy your stay here. I am going to take my leave, but I will find you in the morning. And Kieran, you too. Oh, yes. Oh, such a sweet doggie. Oh, yes. And Krayloff pushes his chair back pretty suddenly, and he turns around, and he goes out the back way. Hold on! And Red follows him out of the way. the room. Doran looks at Kralath's plate at the untouched food and pulls the plate towards him and dumps it onto his own plate and begins to eat the rest of it. That was sort of weird.

Red catches up to Kralath by the door maybe. Hey, hold on, buddy, buddy. What's going on? You barely touched your food? You haven't been acting like yourself. Oh, well, um, what's going on? And, uh, Krayloth still holding onto the mace, his mace of deception. and he says, oh, red, red, red, it's nothing. It's, it's, it's just, it's been a long journey. You know as well as I do that this week has been very trying, and I'm just not in the mood to really spend time with new people. I could really use some solitude.

I hope you understand. Yeah, I guess. It's nothing personal. And Red will roll insight. Contested. Contested roll. 24. I got a natural 20.

Oh. Which brings me up to 23. Oh, shit. He just edged you out. Yeah. But I do deceive very well. Most people I'd be able to fool, but red, not so much. So you are lying.

Oh. So something's off. Oh, 100% something is off. You see the thing that gives me away, and it's just the amount of grip that I have on that maze. It looks like I have it in a death grip. Like you're ready to fight, or? Like, I'm clinging to it.

Like a lifeline. Like, it's a lifeline, exactly. So Red studies your face. And in a moment, he knows that you're lying. But he waits. He almost goes to say something and then steps back, a half step. All right, then. I hope you have a good night.

You too, Red. And Red sort of departs, walking backwards at first. and then spins quickly. And by the time he re-enters the room, Doren, he sits back down next to you and he sort of shakes his head and sort of a smile grows on his face again. You know what? We don't eat him. That's fine.

Yeah. It's a party, right? When did the band say they're getting here? No, Red, I'm sorry. There is no party tonight. Oh. No, no, no party. No party here. But that's why we're going to find a party.

Yeah, yeah. There's got to be some live entertainment in this town. Let's put our shit away. Maybe you can show us to our room real quick, and then Doran and I can skidaddle. Yeah. Oh, yeah, let me show you. I think I know where they're staying. Oh, that was a really, really good dinner.

I just want to thank you very much for your hospitality. Red is emptying his water skin into the, like, empty glass at the table. Yeah, we really appreciate it. And then he takes the bottle of white and starts filling it up, like under the table a little bit. Anyway, we'll just check out our room, drop our bags, and then be done for. for the night, and he puts the empty bottle back on the table. I wish you a pleasant table. You too!

Well, yeah, yeah, just this way. And as we're walking up the stairs, Jack might sort of turn back over his shoulder and say, you know, it may not be your speed. I appreciate that. I was hoping to spend some time with Torin tonight just to, you know, it's kind of not often someone will teleport them from the other side of the world or something. Oh, yeah. I mean, we were going to check with you first. Of course, but... Oh, that's what we were thinking is...

Well, Jack, you should spend time with us, but, oh, you know what? We understand it's fine. I mean, it's okay. But that's okay. Yeah, you know what? Don't worry about it. No hard feelings next time. I hope you're still able to have fun without me.

Oh, you know, what we're going to do with your calm, logical personality, you know. Tough and... This is your room, whatever hour of the morning you get back. There you go. I'm going to go back to... Hey, well, can I ask you one last little favor, maybe, Jack? What's up? Do you mind watching Shale for the evening?

Oh, sure. Yeah, okay. As you're asking Jack this, Doren's in the background, pushing the beds together in their room. Yes. Thanks, buddy. Shale likes extra crispy snuggles. Where'd you put him?

He's over there somewhere. Bye. He's just, he's burrowing through something priceless, I'm sure. And so you're left alone, Jack. It's you and Torrin and your mother, you know, the meal's finished. And Kimara is just regarding the two of you. I think Jack's sort of given Keir in that psychic command to like, hey, you're in charge. Go make sure Shale doesn't destroy anything too important.

And he's sort of got his chair kind of half at the table. so he's sort of facing Torin to his right and his mom across the table. And Torin, you can tell he's maybe like a little bit out of place. I mean, you guys have probably been here like once together. Yeah, if that, yeah. He's like, well, thank you so much for dinner. Everything was delicious. And for bringing Torin halfway across Farron.

Just floored still. I still don't know what to say. Of course. just call it motherly intuition. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on, but it's nice to have an evening to set some of it aside. I'm glad you made it to my doorstep tonight. As much as I'm sure you are enjoying my company,

I should leave the two of you to spend some time together. Time with a loved one is very precious, and she excuses herself. She stands from the table smoothly. sweeps across to your end of the table and gives you kind of a gentle kiss on the top of your head. See you tomorrow. Rest well, my son.

And she glides away. Torin is looking at you with... Hey. He like picks his feet up and like crosses his legs awkwardly on the chair and just puts both of his hands on top of your hands across the table. He's like, this is amazing. Yeah, it's pretty wide. child. Yeah, I've missed you. Torin asks for you to show him your childhood bedroom. I know that you didn't

grow up here, but you know that your mother keeps a room for you. Yeah. I think Jack gets into the space and gets comfortable for a bit and just spends a quiet moment with his partner for a bit. You can tell he's got something on his mind that he's turning over and over. He says, Jack, I want to talk to about something. Of course. Yeah. What's on your mind? I think it's a good move. I think this is good news, but I'm really worried about what you might think. Jack, I sold the copper cup. Oh, interesting. When did that happen? Two weeks ago. Wow. I mean, I'm still in the processes of I should start from the beginning. I'm still a partial owner.

You weren't, like, pressured or nobody like... No. Not like, because last time we were there, there were people and they were trying to... And that's part of it. So other ruffians, bandits, I don't... People looking to extort me have been coming around. They continue to be an issue. And, well, your father contacted me and asked if he might help.

Oh. I know that you and he have not always seen eye to eye, but I think it's a really good move. Like I said, I'm still a partial owner. And with the extra money that he's able to invest in the business, I was able to bump up the protection. His notoriety has been very helpful. The clientele who's been visiting the Copper Cup have been, I mean, I'm seeing politicians in the bar. It's not just like the normal rabble from down near the docks. That's great.

I'm really sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. I mean, no, that's okay. It's, like, I mean, it sounds like you're still operating the place or is there any changes? I was in the middle of one of the busiest shifts in the past month when your mom popped up. Believe me, I'm still, you know, elbows deep in the business. I just, I knew that you might not approve, and I apologize for that. No, I mean, it sucks that we didn't get to talk about it before it happened, just because it makes this all feel awkward, but far be it from mask or wands not to throw money

at a problem and try and solve it. And I'm, I think it's a great move for you. I certainly like knowing that you're safer. and more prosperous. Those are amazing things. The relief is visible on his face. I mean, don't worry. I'm going to be keeping him at arm's length. I'm not going to let him change the place. You know, I don't fully trust him, obviously, with the whole business. This has been in my family for generations, but... Yeah, of course. I don't know. You're my family, too, so I feel like it still counts, right?

Yeah, yeah. It's like looking for your approval. a little bit. No, this is, this is a, uh, this is a good thing. This is, this is, this is great. I, you know, like I, I, I wish I could have been there to, to be a part of it. It's a smart thing. I wish, I wish, I'd come up with it. I, I, I, how did you guys end up talking about it? He just came to you? Yeah. He actually showed up in person. Huh. It was very strange. He said that he thought that, uh, it would be a good investment for him. I mean, that's, that's the most him way of saying he approves of us that I can think of. Right.

So I feel like the two of you maybe spend another half hour getting ready for bed, sharing kisses and whatever. Then you, you know, kisses and whatever. And then Torin apologizes because he's so tired. No, go to sleep. You find yourself, like, in bed next to this man. who's basically immediately snoring next to you. And there's like a solid 15 minutes of enjoying hearing his breathing

and not fretting about too much else. This is about as peaceful as it's been for him in a while. That's right. Until a thump from downstairs. And Jack gets this picture in his head of the umber hulk, getting under the table and chewing on something. And like, he's at least out of bed trying to like scoop shale up to try and figure out what kind of attention they need before they can like stop for a minute.

After half an hour of chasing Shale around, Jack remembers these pieces of old silverware in his mom's house. And they're antique and wonderful, but they don't fit in his hands right. And he's hated them every time he's had to come here. And he's never having another meal with this fork. I love that. And Shail's hungry. And this seems like a perfect opportunity to get one little irritation out of life. Shale loves it. Shale eats four or five. spoons and then emits a strange alien burp and then their pupils spin and slowly can see that they're getting sleepy. Jack grabs a tea towel and wraps shale up in it and puts him by the fire and and then decides to go for a walk outside. I think he's got in the back of his mind that letter

from Calliope that we found in that ruined cabin. And, you know, she's, She was coming to Silvery Moon to beg. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So you head out into the late night of Silvery Moon. It's beautiful. You see that there are pieces of architecture shining in the moonlight,

and you know them to be made of this kind of moonlight enchantment. There's, of course, the moonbridge, but there are other tall edifices, buildings that are up in the tops of the trees that only are stable at nighttime. And you see there are gatherings of people in the streets, people celebrating the death of this year and the birth of a new one. And as you're walking down the street, you come to some familiar figures. I'm excited, quite frankly.

I'm excited to tell them that we got on a little adventures. Oh, yeah, this is going to be crazy. I'm sure they had just as good a night. Oh, you know, I didn't expect to. I don't know why I didn't expect to see you, but, hey, what do you guys up to? It's a small town, right, Doran? That's right, hey. Yeah.

Hey, I was just thinking, you remember that letter from the Calliope who, the, the girl in the attic? What letter was it? In, uh, R? Why don't you hand me the bag of holding? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he hands the bag of holding and you smell red reeks of like alcohol, like pure grain alcohol, as if he, like, bathed in it. He is so smelly and blood.

You see, like, blood dripping down some, like, cut wounds in his arm, as well as Doran. They're both looking rough as hell. Hmm. There you go, buddy. Yeah. Are you okay? Never been better. We've been saying yes all night. Ain't that right, Doran?

Yes. Uh-huh. That's, you know, it's an option. There's other choices. One could exercise also. It's all right. We got it covered. Anyway, what do you need?

And then he, like, grabs the bag back and reaches in, and he pulls out the letter and he hands it to you. That's the one, right? Oh, yeah, and just one second, and Jack reaches back in and finds some of the satchels of money that we've got squirled away, and he pulls some of that out. I'm going to go see the baker, just to see what's going on around this town. Well, how much you're taking? I mean, I'll tell you how much I'm bringing back. Hey, look, Jack makes a little illusion of just the three pets curled up by the fire and says, look how warm and comfortable is. Isn't this? I just had to capture this moment.

Oh, well, that's lovely. All right, fine, we trust you. And Red takes the bag back, he says, You be good, don't get any any troubles like Doran I did. We didn't get any troubles, no, he did, it's fine. Okay, let's go, Doran, to the moon bridge. Did you know this a moon bridge? You're supposed to show your butt to it.

Let's go, Doran. And Red and Doran trot off into the night, screaming and singing a song. Where's Krayloth when you need them? In your search for a bakery, you pass by a temple dedicated to the god Elmater. Yeah, I think Jack sort of cautiously approaches to scope out the place as he's coming to the door to see, you know, is it look busy, is it look like it's having a nice quiet evening? There is no service ongoing, but the braziers inside of the temple are lit with incense.

and one or two people are sitting on stone benches inside the body of this temple, offering silent prayers to the deity. At the front of the church, there is a large statue of a kneeling man whose palms are outstretched, tending to this altar, there is a priest. I'd like to make an offering if I could. Of course, my child. Jack reaches into his personal coin pouch and puts a few, you know, tithes a little bit of offering to Ilmator to keep the church, you know, functioning and says, you know, it's actually a strange

request. I don't know if you'll be able to help me or not, but I'm looking for someone. Her name's Calliope. She came to Silvery Moon to try and make her way in the world, but she had nothing when she showed up, or I assume she must have. I just wanted to sort of make sure she, she ended up, all right, It's years later, so the odds of maybe she didn't even stay here or whatever, but... The priest nods sagely at your offering and offers his thanks. As a priest of ill-matter, it is my job to catalog the suffering of all who pass through these doors. Yes, I do recall a young girl of the name Calliope. Amazing.

Is she all right? I recall she gained employment and is residing in service at a manor on the southern side of the city, owned by one emeritus Vether, though I have not seen her since she came through these doors. I hope anyone who comes here never needs to come back, because they've found such good support in their life elsewhere, but I'm glad you keep the doors open for everyone who needs it. Providence I found myself the way here tonight. Thank you. I'm going to move on. Blessings on you, my son. And to you as well. So Jack's not necessarily super familiar with all the manor-owning folk in Silvery Moon, but is there a chance you might have heard of Emeris Vether in some context? Yeah, you can make a history check. I'd love to. How do you like a 24? I like a 24 just fine. Me too. You recall your mother maybe years ago mentioning something about Vether

shipping, that this is a man who is well to do in the city, certainly, and that you figure if you made your way to the neighborhood, you could probably parse out which residence is his. Yeah, for lack of a better thing to do. And I think having God is feet in silvery moon. He's starting to to see a side of the city that that is now like confronting on his own level, right? Like nobody's brought him to this part of the city. It's a thing he's going about on his own. So, you know, let's see how the Vethers celebrate the holidays and walk over to that manor house. After a little bit of wandering, a lovely light snowfall beginning to just dust the streets here

in there and you see candles in windows as you pass through the neighborhoods. You find your way to a manor house, a lovely two-story home with statues flanking the double doors at the front. Ivy trains down the walls and pours over the windows lit from within by golden light. There is a plaque on the front gate that reads Vether. It would seem that the occupants are at home. Oh. He decides to proceed up to the door. All right. You knock on the door and in short order it opens to reveal an elderly man, a human, stooped and wearing gray servant clothes. Good evening.

Hello. My name is Jack Page. I'm told there's a woman who works here. I'm hoping to have a word with her. Calliope was her name. She maybe came into town. five years ago or so. How are you? Jack Page from the House of Wands in Waterdeep, archaeologist and wizard by trade. And what want of you of a servant girl? I have some news about her family, and I just wanted to make sure...

I just wanted to speak with her. I'll see if the master is willing to entertain company. Come in, come in. Oh, thank you. And he opens the door to permit you. The entryway of this mansion is warm. and smells of wood smoke. The furniture around you is plush and inviting

with chairs and couches arranged for conversation. You're led into this sitting room. On the west wall, there's a large painting of a forest and the fireplace crackles merrily beside you. Above the mantle, there's a painting of a noble-looking half-elfth. And you were left in this room to wait as this servant retrieves his master for you. after a few minutes the servant returns with a man this is a half-elf man immaculately groomed with silver hair that is quite closely cropped to his head

he's in like a silk dinner jacket kind of vibe and he's carrying a pipe in his hand and he gestures with the stem of the pipe Jack Page Hi, I appreciate you meeting with me, my lord I understand it's a holiday I wouldn't be intruding if I thought I'd be in town long Not at all, not at all Just enjoying some things for dinner

Before I head out myself It's interesting that you come calling Garion tells me that you're inquiring About a young servant of mine, Calliope That's right It's quite a storied tale But I ran across her family's home had suffered quite a tragedy a couple of years ago, and we'd found some documents that were left

behind, and just in general, a little bit of, maybe could offer a little bit of closure. I just wanted to see if she was around and doing all right. Ah, yes, I mean, she is, of course, around, this being my household and her place of residence. However, she's currently at her duties, and I don't wish to disturb her. I appreciate, I didn't make an appointment, and I'm sure you're in the middle of Everything, you don't think she'd be available for five minutes just to have a brief conversation. How to put it. Calliope came from a traumatic past. And surely, I don't wish to trouble her any further than she already is.

Fair, I'm not looking to drag up anything that she wouldn't want brought up either, but hopefully she could at least know that she had the option to just know what was... Certainly. Well, perhaps you can impart your wisdom to me. and then I can pass it along to her as I deem necessary. You can't just invite her into the room for a couple of minutes? Perhaps you are from a household that is not familiar with the roles of servants. I will do with the help of my home as I see fit. Fair? Is she indentured?

Mr. Page. When Calliope came to me, it was not in the typical manner that one is generally used to acquires. servants. She was in my home, in the middle of the night, going through my possessions, and I offered her the option of going to jail for the crime she was committing against my household, or foregoing any legal issues and working here to pay off her debt, shall we say. And she very wisely chose the latter. Understood. You seem very magnanimous as an individual, for sure. Is her remaining debt a particularly great value? It's been five years. Perhaps I could help settle up and make sure that you have been none the worst for where

for all the trouble you've been put through. That's a very generous offer for a man who seems to have such little stakes in the life of this young woman. What would you propose? I mean, is there a dollar value you have in mind? Make an offer, Jack. A hundred gold pieces. Oh, come now. You could hire a servant for more than the time she's ever spent in your house. I'm not sure I understand why that feels so ridiculous.

I appreciate your generosity, Jack, but it is not so easily ended. I actually have some plans for the evening, so if that is all, if you don't mind, I will depart. Actually, I'm on my way to a fete, as it were. Tis the season. I enjoy the rest of your evening. And you as well. The servant leads the both of you out. You watch as Emery puts on his outdoor shoes and sets off into the night as Garris nods at you and closes the front door.

Just in the moment between when the Lord has ridden off. and Garris closing the door. Jack would just like to sort of turn to him and be like, that was a weird encounter, wasn't it? My lord is very generous in not having sent young Calliope to see what the jails look like from the inside, as it were. You sure there isn't some offer I could make you where I could speak with her for five minutes?

Mr. Page, you wouldn't want to have a servant like Calliope. She is an ignorant girl and lazy. But I'm just saying you yourself could find you with five and a half years of wages in your pocket. He looks down the street at the back of his master as he turns the corner. Garris says, as long as there's no evidence that I've permitted you to enter this house without my master's express bidding. Understood. You definitely haven't done that. But if there was another door somewhere that was unlocked or something, you couldn't have prevented some crumption. crazy adventurer from intruding the way Calliope had a number of years ago. He holds his wrinkled hand out through the door that's still open about four inches.

And into it, Jack pulls a pouch out. Just gives all the money Red's been saving. Just every solitary gold coin. You know what? It's just fucking money, man. It's not like you can't wire dad for more money. He's got tavern buying money these days. He's got tavern buying money. Garris thoughtfully hefts the coin purse in his hand,

sort of testing the weight of it. And then he says, side door through the kitchen. And then he closes and locks the front door. Jack will make his way around the side door. Are there a lot of footprints in the snow on the property, or is it look like there's some pretty well-shoveled paths and that's it? There is a well-trod-servant's path that would lead. from the kitchen door on the side to kind of a back alley area?

I guess I'm thinking, is Jack going to leave footprints walking around to the side door if he goes right from the front door to the side door? Yes. Yeah, so he may need to go out to the street and walk down the block and circle around just to not, you know. Devious. Well, he's read enough crime novels in his time. Has he, though?

They're Torren's favorite. He's tried to relate. Look, you know, the masked villain of Waterdeep. is one of the favorite series of Torrance. Oh, I like that. I can imagine you guys like reading passages to each other sitting underneath a tree somewhere in Waterdeep 20 years ago. Yeah.

So you cleverly make your way around to the side of this manner. Right. You find a single wooden door. Like the Masked Thief of Waterdeep. Yes. I love that in your head you're like kind of putting yourself into this storybook now. Like if he was picturing himself now, He definitely, like, without subconsciously, is picturing red dressed in the like domino mask of the masked thief of Waterdeep who would sneak up to the back of a house.

And he's just trying to like do what, do what feels naturally there. Mm-hmm. I love it. You open the door and you find yourself in a bright, clean kitchen, two windows looking out into the moonlit yard. Mm-hmm. And Garris is standing there in the doorway to the kitchen. and he's cleaning a large iron pot. And he gives you kind of a suspicious look

and then turns back to his business as if he doesn't see you. So trying to stick to more of the servandy spaces, Jack heads to the north. You find yourself in a room dimly lit by a golden candelabra that rests atop a rectangular dining table. There's a single silver place setting

at the head of it. so you have another door leading east it would seem that both of these doors that you had previously neglected probably lead into the same large room all right so he'll he will head into that larger room yeah you find yourself in a large hallway where there are two tall suits of armor overlooking four different doorways one that looks like it could lead to a library When we were in the Hamperet household, we'd seen some funky suits of armor. And there's just a moment of, like, memories back to a haunted manner full of awful people that sort of flash in front of Jack's face as he sizes up this armor. Just trying to, like, gut check, are you full of awful magic that's about to murder me? Hmm.

Hmm. Roll a gut check? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, it's impossible for you to know if these. suits of armor will eventually murder you. I guess we'll start at door number one on the left and just sort of peek through to see if we can find signs of people.

The furnishings and ornate decorations make it clear that this is Amaris Vathar's bedroom. A large four-poster bed draped in blue velvet occupies the middle of this room. Next to it is a dark wooden wardrobe and a bedside table with a leather-bound journal sitting next to a vase of freshly cut flowers. Is he single? Like, it looks like this is his room alone? That's right. Okay.

The journal might be the place to start. Yeah. In the journal, you find that he has written over the past few days about manifest logs from a ship, transporting stolen goods from Everland. Supplies meant for a bakery. Aha. Well, that's interesting on a number of levels. That feels personal.

You know, I was pissed before, but I take that journal and I head to the library. large wooden doors open to reveal a cozy library lit by warm candlelight two walls of shelves stretched to the ceiling with a rolling ladder to help reach the higher books in the center of the room is an armchair and desk books are piled haphazardly on the desk many of them left open next to a bottle of ink and a quill an imposing stone statue stands in the corner next to the door silently watching the idea of this giant stone presence while you're trying to like read comfortably and learn a thing is really screwing them up. Like it's put in a strangely central place in a room that that isn't necessarily for displaying statues. It's just something is catching his imagination about it. And this statue belongs in a museum. I think he might read some of the titles of the books that are on the table just to see if there's anything that jumps out is particularly interesting or nefarious. If you spend some time looking at

at the open books on the desk here, you can see that the person who had left them open was reading about Knowles. Yeah, I'm going to open the next door and shut that one quietly. The bedroom contains a small single bed, an old dusty wardrobe, and a girl kneeling by her bed. A hi. She is startled by your entry, and her eyes go warm. wide. She stands up and she climbs up on her bed. Are you calliope? Yes. Are you okay? I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong? No, no, no, no, no. Nothing wrong. I can't imagine what you've been through. I was at your house. I found the note you left. What? In the, in the forest. Some friends of mine were

trying to take shelter and we stumbled into the house you grew up in. And what happened there, it sounds awful. I can't imagine what you're going through, but I know you were coming to Silvery Moon, hoping for something better, and I just... Tears are welling in her eyes and just pouring down her face. She's like, is this a joke? Jack pulls out the note that she'd left and sort of puts it somewhere in between them and backs the way to sort of not, you know, make it as maybe like on the edge of the bed if she's crawled up into the far side of it, somewhere that she can reach, but it's not too threatening that he's getting close or anything. Yeah, she crawls towards it and picks it up immediately. Oh my God. Who are you? My name's Jack Page. I'm part of the Nightstone

Four. I don't know what that means. I got to tell you, this place has been given me the creeps the whole time I get here, the Lord of the house. Lord Vether. He had some interesting ideas of indentured whatever the hell. And I, if that's how you're comfortable living, you're certainly welcome to, but, you know, if you'd like to try something different, maybe there's a way I could help. I don't know what that even would look like or mean yet, but... Are you saying that you've come to take me away? If you want to leave, yeah. I would... I would love to leave, but I can't.

Why not? I can't leave. I've never been able to cross the front door. What's it feel like when you try? Like fire all over my body. I'd like to detect magic. Would that be okay? Yeah, what does that mean? It would mean I'd be able to see anything that was magical in this room, just to get a sense of what oras and spells were at work here.

It might give us an idea of why you couldn't cross the threshold. He will not let me leave. We'll cross that bridge when we get here. Let's figure out why you can't leave first. And once that's solved, we can figure out you get to decide what you want to do. Jack is going to say the words and move his fingers in the required way and detect magic within 30 feet. So there's quite a bit of magic aura coming from the library. But the whole room that she's sitting in, there's like a full.

fog of evocation magic. What is it? What do you see? There is a mist of evocation magic around us. I'm just trying to... Okay. I'm going to head to the library. In the library, there is an aura of magic surrounding a small inscribed ruin on top of the doorframe.

It is lavender in color and pulses the same. evocation magic. Can I investigate this ruin to see if there's any sense of what that pulsating power is doing or a way to disable it if it's... Definitely. Yeah, Roll Arcana. We'd love to. 16. This is certainly related to the emanation of magic that is permeating the rest of the manner. You would presume that this specific run controls a specific area of effect. Apart from that, you can't figure out what it does or how to disrupt it. I have some ideas. You also detect that the statue is no ordinary statue, but has an aura of transmutation around it.

I knew it! I'd like you to stand in the door of your bedroom. I have a plan. She goes over and she stands there fretting. Most magical sigils need to be written on something. And so if the thing that they're written on isn't there anymore, it's pretty disruptive. bet to me. His plan is just to firebolt the doorframe and then see what happens. I love it. Okay. Your firebolt catches this ruin on the doorframe with magical fire energy. And as the crackling

fire takes over these magical etchings, the aura of evocation magic that you had been perceiving flickers like a candlelight and then fades in this room. And as you acknowledge the success of this plan, the stone golem beside you begins to move. Roll for initiative. 12. Marvelous. Don't move.

It's going to be okay. I think this is working. Calliope lets out a little scream. If you have anything you want to take with you, grab it quick. She rolled five for her initiative. and the stone golem rolled a 10. So it's your turn, Jack. What do you do?

Move towards Calliope. The golem charges you as you just escape its grasp. It reaches out a long, stony hand towards you and tries to slam you. Ooh, that'll do it. That's 26 to hit. That does hit. That is 18 bludgeoning damage. Oh.

And a second slam attack against you. That's 25 to hit. Yep. 14 bludgeoning damage. 18 and 14? Mm-hmm. Okay. Calliope runs out of her bedroom.

She has a small package with five worldly possessions in them. Can I see a window from where I am? Is there a... Yep, there's one out in the hallway, sort of between the two suits of armor. Jack, just having taken these two, like, fearsome blows, he's a little bit bloody. His lips are swelling. His back is sore, but he's kind of undeterred as he reaches out to Calliope and grabs her hand And as an extra, fuck you, he was just going to misty step out of here without a problem.

But instead, he is going to thunder step out of here because fuck this guy in particular. And so seeing the moon bridge glowing in the distance, he teleports out of this room with Calliope in hand. They leave an explosion in his wake to land on top of the moon bridge. She's in your arms, curled against your chest with her eyes screwed tight, not even daring to. open them. You've been through so much Calliope. Your life's going to change from now. I'm going to try and help. No more servitude. She looks up at you in relief and then amazement just opens her eyes and she looks out and around at the night sky. For the first time in five years, she's free. Let's find somewhere safe to go. Jack starts wandering back towards his mom's house and remembers the Temple of

Ilmator on the on the way there and stops inside. Man, he looks like shit though. He's been beat up real good. Yeah, he has been. You look much different than you did an hour ago. I didn't mean to take Ilmator's pugilism in such a literal fashion this evening father, but I'm hoping you could help. I always can. Calliope, yes. There's a bakery in Everland that's always looking for help. I'd love to to leave some money if you could arrange travel for Calliope down in that direction. If that's a place you'd like to go, you don't have to stay there, but it's far enough away from here. You might be able to figure out what to do next.

Yes, that sounds, that's perfect. I don't want to stay here. I thank you so much. I don't even know why. Just thank you. Next time I'm in Everland, maybe we can have a coffee, and I can tell you about what happened at your family's place. And you can tell me about the new life you've found.

She throws herself into your arms and gives you a really tight squeeze and then scrubs her face and looks up at the priest who nods sagely and leads her back towards the cloister where there are some dormitories and she turns around and gives you a wave before they both duck out of sight. I wonder where Kralath was staying. Jack kind of thinks as he's wandered around trying to figure out how he's going to not be beat up when he goes to crawl in bed with his boyfriend. And as you think about Krayloth, not for the first time in the past hour, you realize that the platinum ring of warding that you wear on your right hand has grown very, very cold. Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Christopher Ryan Evans, Merlin, Mitchell Cadwell, Alex Reed, Michael and Brianna Weber, Colin Burke, Richard, Daniel, Doug, Gray, Jackie and Rain, Jessica Orrett, Jonah Goldman, Melanie Schian, Lars, and Marikanniski. See you soon!