Dice Shame - 144 | 'Mess Around'

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

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?!?Content Warning: swearing, violence, horror, mental illness and suicide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was dreaming about limestones. Maybe you'd like to join us. All these factors really play a difference. Doren, you can smell rocks being mined, can't you? Oh, is that where we're going? Well, I know now. It might be good to see this side. Yeah, we're just nobody's, you know?

Don't lose that number. Did you feel that? That was an explosion. He's just standing awkwardly in the middle of a mess hall. That's a cool name, all right? We can have some of this lichen. Is that where the Roth A will take us? They're always looking somewhere really interesting. I don't know what that guy's problem was.

All right, let's go get some breakfast. We could use a good friend here. Important recurring character. You seem like you have a lot going on in this world. I mean, are you integral to the plot? MVP this week is Adrienne Ryan, who just started listening to Dyshame and is already in love. Adrian Ryan is a Patreon supporter, and you can be too. Head to patreon.com slash the Invictus stream to help the show grow.

Thanks, Adrian. Showout this week goes to the DM's Day Off podcast. DMM Matt hosts forever DMs from around the internet and very generously gives them a break, running one-shots for those of us who always seem to find ourselves behind the screen. You'll find me, Joe, on an upcoming episode very soon. So definitely check it out. Check it out there. Awesome.

All right, should we play some D&D? Let's do it and show them how it's. Done. The Rothay stopped to rest a total of four times during your travels. And apart from that, and Jack's unassailable sense of time passing, you'd be hard-pressed to know how long you've been underground. It's the 18th of Hammer, when you begin to hear the distant reverberations echo through the tunnels that would suggest mining activity.

Listen, you smell that? Smells like somebody's mining. Rocks. Doran, you can smell rocks being mined, can't you? I can't smell rocks. I can identify rocks. I can tell you the mineral content of some rocks, but I can't smell them.

Oh, that's what your stone cunning is. I thought it was smelling rocks. Never mind. I could smell the different levels of water underground. You see, the deeper you go, the water actually becomes more watery, intensified with mineral. And so the deeper you go, like, for example, in the deepest dungeons of Grey Peak Mountains. Well, and I understand it, too, that it depends on which aquifers you're drawing from and whether it's fed from an underground source or not.

That's right. Whether it's a sedimentary type rock or an igneous sort of rock that's more porous. All these factors really play a different... Or, you know, depending on the making. up of the stone type of the mountain. You see, some... No, shut up, listen, listen, listen, there's someone mining. Sometimes starting to play D&D

is just like letting a bunch of cats loose in a room and they just find something to be excited about. If you have a limestone mountain, you'll tell that the water is a lot more slimy sometimes, especially when it pools. A far-off explosion shakes dust free from the beams that short the ceiling. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

I was dreaming about limestones. Here. Did you feel that? That was an explosion. You sure you didn't smell it? And red hops off the back of the wrothay and draws his bow looking down the tunnel. Can I roll perception? Yeah, of course you can.

That's one of these D-20s, right? Yeah, roll a big round one. 18. Just once. Very nice. Well done. Just the ones. You perceive just a dim, dim, dim, dim light coming from around the corner.

Dim, dim. The next coming from around the corner of the next stretch of tunnel. And with that, Red, your ears perceive the pink, pink, tink of mine, of mine axes. Pick axes. There's a dim, dim, dim light ahead. All right. And Kralov hops off the Rathai and begins walking towards the light. He's been sleeping this whole time.

For four days. He like kind of like. The most rest of he's ever been. Kralov, you've been in a coma for four days. God, I didn't even know you were alive. We tried to wake you so many times. He loves the dark now. It's like when you put a towel on a bird cage and they just go to sleep.

Yeah. I'll just, when I don't have sunlight, I just kind of. conk out like that. I hope you didn't run into any battles or anything. And Grayloff kind of lazily hoists his shield and shakes off his mace and begins trudging towards these sounds. Mm-hmm. And the Rotha continue dragging these mine carts around the next bend.

You come to this stretch of tunnel that's lit by torchlight. As you travel forward into these lit tunnels here and there, there are branching corridors also lined by mine cart tracks. And eventually, you begin to see other signs of life. Dwarven miners, people piling ore and coal into these mine carts. You begin to hear the sounds of an industrious situation. Look at all these dwarven children doing all this work. My people.

At least it was an intentional explosion. I was worried there for a minute. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I knew by the sound of that blast that it was certainly, an intentional explosion. Intensual?

Intentual? You didn't know that. You didn't know shit. You were sleeping. Well, I know now. Intentual. Stone cutting. Hey, young boy. Hello. Is this a camp or a city or what are we about to go into? Oh, this is Fosick.

Fosick. Anyone know of Fosick? I don't know Fosick. Well, that's where we need to go, actually. Oh, is that where we're going? Yeah. Well, we're here. Congratulations. Thanks. I guess. Where do we unload for the...

Supplies. Oh, yeah, just... The mine master, we'll see you just down there at the end of the line. You just want to go straight. Well, I mean, the Rotha are just going to take you there, so... Nice to meet you, boy. We need to speak with Webella Magbrew. That was the...

Is that where the Rotha will take us? I mean, Wabella is probably in the long house. No, good. To compensate, eh? Is that somewhere down here, too? No, no, that'll be up on the surface. Oh, the surface. Sound like an outhouse.

Oh, so we're near the end of the mine. Yeah, you're basically here. You're like pretty much right at the town. What's your name, boy? My name? Yeah. You seem like a good chap mining away here. You don't need to know my name.

We could use a good friend here. Important recurring character. My name? You seem like you have a lot going on in this world. I mean, are you integral to the plot? Yeah, what's that cool button? And red points to a button on his shirt that says, vote no on Prop 186.

Really active in his community. Well, first of all, my name is Ricky. Hi, Ricky. You're so fine. You're so fine. You blew this mine. Hey, Ricky. That's good.

That's good. Do you have inspiration? I don't. You get inspiration. Thank you. It's very good. That's the first time in a hundred and some odd episodes. I feel like I've deserved it.

For a joke. Yeah, that's great. He points at the button on his chest. He's like, oh, what this? I just wear this because my sister wants me to. She's a real... It says something about goblins under it. What the hell is that?

Don't touch my shirt. Oh, sorry. Hands off. Was that a band t-shirt? I'm in a band. What? The goblins? That's a cool band name.

Dawn likes goblins, right? It's kind of ironic. Oh, you've never heard of us. Where's two underground? That's a good joke too. That's a good joke too. Rob, do you have inspiration? I do, yeah.

Mump and suck it. Doreen kind of puffs up his chest and walks, it continues to walk through, you know, kind of following the Rotha, because they would continue, right? I assume. Yeah, they're still going. Yeah. So he kind of walks through very proudly, you know, showing off that we are delivering the good. And, you know, Doren is amongst his people.

He's proud, you know, he's proud. What's the other word for proud? Yeah. Synonym for proud. He's proud. He's proud. And standing tall. Excited?

Prideuous. Cool. Yeah, Doren, you proudly walk behind these Rathay proudly. Yeah. Very with a lot of pride. The most pride you can muster. A couple people look up from their labors, but most folks don't really give you a second glance because you're just dragging some stuff.

Do you guys want to hang out with Ricky somewhere? You want to go? Oh, me and Ricky are talking deep underground bands. Like, have you heard of the motorheads? What? No. Yeah. What's their, can you give me one of their songs? Guga, chichia, chag. Craylars used to play tambourine for one of the cover bands in Waterdeep, I think. Oh, yeah. Here, one second. Give me a minute.

Doreen's favorite, rock music. Oh, here it is. All right. Are we going to do this right now? Do that beat that we were working on. Oh, yeah. Jack's flute. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can do Jack's flute.

You hear that? You hear that music back there? Those are my friends. We are delivering the goods that keep getting stolen. Isn't that pride-filling? A few more people are looking at you now. Why don't we go up to the surface? It might be good to see the sun.

We're a little stir crazy, maybe. You're getting the delirium of the underground Yeah Anyway if you want to give us some more buttons We'll hand them out on our way up Cool song guys Anyway I should probably get back to work But I pointed the way to the town

So that's kind of my own Oh yeah thanks Just in case you want to know So you can contact us We are the Nightstone 4 And Ricky don't lose that number See you later That's a good one too

That is a good one It wasn't quite as good as the other ones I know it was a bit forced but I wanted it in there. So, yeah, you guys sort of offload your cargo and the rothay to some waiting hands at the end of the mine tracks. People seem very casual about unhooking the cargo and they're already brushing down the animals and giving them like feed bags full of mushrooms.

As soon as they brought feet on, they don't even want to say goodbye. Oh, I have to say goodbye. Benny, Brenda, you two, you're going to have a long and happy marriage. Just remember, don't sweat the small stuff. I don't. And it's all small stuff. And Red throws his arms around their two necks and hugs them. Yeah.

Brenda kind of goes, m'f, m'f. And Benny makes one light just bubble come out of his nose. I guess they come out of their noses. Cool. Cute. They do now. Dorn turns to red and he's like, you know, I don't know if we should have let them fornicate like that on the railroad. I mean, who knows, they could put Brenda out for months.

I know, and it took so long. We lost an entire day there. Let's keep that on the down low. You ascend up into the town, and you see that Fosak is one of many mining villages scattered across the valley of Kedroon. You exit out of this mine shaft out into the. gray morning light and it's frosty and cold. You see all around you the foothills leading up into the mountains of the spine. You are so close to this mountain range now.

Oh, my gosh. I forgot that we have to get warm clothes on. Here, pass my fur. Oh, yeah. Thank you. So, uh, what's the name of this town again? Fosick. Fosick.

Right. And I think Jack snaps his fingers and pulls up the map. But now that he's sort of seen the mountains, he kind of got a sight, of like, I think we came out right here. We must have traveled, you know, kind of draws the path as he remembers it underground. Something like that anyways. Yeah. So, look, it's not far from the Oracle.

You figure as long as you're able to pick your way through the mountain range adequately well, you probably will be able to make it in about three days. And what time of day is it right now? It's like morning, grim morning. Okay, well, listen, why don't we go get some breakfast? There's something that I want to take a good look at now that we got some light here. And then head out late morning, early afternoon.

Sounds like a plan. Sure. I'm sure they have cool mushrooms around here. I'm curious to find one. Mushrooms, eh? Yeah. Well, you can have some of this lichen. No, no, no, no.

That's a weird you guys thing. Red says his hands up and backs away. I don't go in for that stuff. Too silly for me, and Red skips away. But like full out skips. like wide birth. But first we need to like deliver this stuff, don't we?

All right. Red skips back. All right. Well, let's go to the Longhouse first and then we'll close out this little mission. Yeah. We'll let them know that we delivered their goods. It's not a very large town.

As far as longhouses go, there's probably only one building around here that fits the bill. It looks to be solidly made of wood and stone done in the northern dwarven style, reminiscent of Mirabar. But with the reason, of a frontier town. You make your way there and are admitted in to meet with

Wabella Magbrew. She's perched on a stool in a dark room when you come in, sitting behind a desk, bathed in the spotlight from a bull's-eye lantern. She's got a cigar clenched in her strong white teeth and a copper headpiece with a jeweler's loop on an extendable arm swung down in front of her left eye. And when you enter, she's holding a rock the size of her fist, a rock whose embedded crystalline structures fragment the light and send it spinning through the wreath of blue smoke in the room. Wow, you look cool!

Oh, thank you. Ms. Magbroo? Yes, I'm Mobella. We're delivering supplies. Oh, you don't say. Yeah, we came from Mirabar. You must be the ones that Thiven sent word about. Probably.

Doran is a bit struck. To now. Bearded Dwarven woman with a cigar hang out of her mouth. Oh, until now. Did you have any troubles in the tunnels from Mirabar? Well, we managed to fight off a horde of lizard people. They were trying to kill us. And then also we managed to subdue.

a goblin, and then he looks over at red and... Who sold us lemonade. Yes, tribe. But I think we killed about 60 of those other creatures or something. I don't know. I killed 25 myself. Maybe 100. Yeah.

But she raises her eyebrows a little bit. About four days down the passage from this direction, I'd say. They set up an ambush. They'll probably do it again, so... A real nightmare. Yeah, but they were easy. Well, I was suspecting that there was something. like that down there in the tunnels. I have to send a crew out to eradicate them.

Probably a good idea. Any issues with the Roth? Oh, uh, no. Although, there's certainly some love in the air. That's the season for it. You're telling me. Reaching down behind the desk, you hear the clinking of coins as she counts gold out into a purse. Here, for your labor. 10 gold, I believe, as was promised, for each of you. Wow. Oh, wow.

Ten gold. Thank you. Now, are you on your way back out to Mirabar then? Not today. We're actually not. We're heading to the mountains. We've got another destination to seek. Do you?

Well, first we're having breakfast here. Yes. Apparently. Just saying. If you could recommend a good spot for some tasty food. Maybe you'd like to join us Well, we don't really have restaurants here in Fosick, but there is a mess hall Works for me

That seems a bit rough and tumble around here, like a frontier town It's something like that, a little bit, yeah Well, if you are ever on your way back down to Mirabar from here, I could have some more work for you, if you like. More the same, I'm afraid. Dorn, why is your mouth open? Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself Doran Iron fist

Doran Iron fist and he extends a hand out to Wabella Iron fist, eh? Any relation? Yes. The Iron Fists I'm the I'm the blacksmith

and soldier legend He's Doran Iron Fist, the one and only I'm just pulling your beard, Doran. It's nice to meet you. And it's certainly a real pleasure to meet you, Wabella, if I can call you by your first name. Ah, please, please, of course.

And so you're out into the mountains then, not looking for work among your kind. What are you up to? Doren, I guess, looks at his companions, and unsure of whether to divulge information, what we divulge. He sort of stumbles over his words. Well, we've got a journey.

Very important business. We're on. We need to hike into the mountains. We're all just standing back watching him making an ass of himself. We're like, I'm okay with this. Feel free to jump in any time. We're on our way to the spine of the world to do some things for giants. Have you see any giants around here, by the way?

She flicks the jeweler's loop up out of the way of her eye. I would be careful where you tread. Lots up here. Many giants up here. Yeah. Quite a few frost giants these days, in fact, and stone. Yeah. Be careful.

Will you join us for breakfast? Maybe you could give us some further advice on, you know, what we should be watching out for. I could buy you a drink. I already had my breakfast, and I have quite a bit of work to do here, unfortunately. I completely understand. We're all very busy, and I'm not concerned in the least. But I'm sure we will cross your paths again. Yeah.

Well, you know, if we did swing back this way, you know, I'm sure that we'd have plenty more to say, but don't today. Well, if you swing by again, be sure to come and say hello. now if you don't mind we certainly will we won't take up any more of your time it's a pleasure to meet you and uh

take care goodbye yes you as well all right goodbye now and then we leave yeah you guys head out Gorin you're okay

you see the little awestruck in there well it's not often that you meet such a such a fierce woman running a city, you know. There's something about the... Strength?

Let me gather my thoughts. Yeah, you're drooling. You got a lot of drool coming down here. Yeah, well, I'm not... It's sweat, too. Looks like you were looking at ham. You know, we went from hot to cold to hot. I'm sweating a bit, too, but, you know,

something to be said about a woman that's in charge and the way she carried herself and, you know... Look, Doran, I think your heart's in the right place, but for someone like us to roll in the town and move on in the morning, you know. Oh, of course. No. No, no. I'm not saying that you can't try to make a move, but if you do, you got to let her know that you're not like a normal adventure type, you know.

You're not like me or Kraloff the Jack where we're going to just blow out in the morning. You were married before. You know, you've had a stable foundation, a relationship. Of course. You know, where of a type is what I'm saying, you know, Krayloth and me. and Jack, you know. Of course. I keep Creelot and Mir like nodding at each other and like, I keep including Jack and Jack's like, what the

fuck, I've been in a stable rule like, what the fucking is? Yeah, we're just nobody's, you know? We'll just roll out of bed in the morning and we're gone, I'm sure. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I would, oh, no, I mean, hey, I'm struck, but you know, I'm not, uh, I'm comfortable to move on. You know, I've seen other women dwarves

in power. You're still holding under the doorknob, Dore. And you're still, let go over the knob. Let's just. Let's just move on. Oh, I'm sure. I'll figure it all about her when we get it. You'll get some breakfasts. I'm sure she'll be out of my mind.

If we come back this way, I mean, who knows? Maybe we'll never come back this way. Maybe we'll never run into her again, and it won't ever come up. You could always send her a letter once you're... She's letters in this guy. No. Communication is important for a relationship. And Dorn kind of like, he scuttles off forward, walking at a quicker pace.

He, like, crouches behind a barrel, like 20 feet away. Doran's famous stealth skills. And as soon as Jack says letters, Kralov kind of looks around awkwardly and then sighs deeply and says, all right, let's go get some breakfast. And heads off to the mess hall, which Doran has already found, I'm sure.

Certainly. Well, maybe in fact he doesn't, but he like looks back and sees you guys heading and follows you. Runs around the back, comes in the kitchen. He can't find the damn mess hall. I just need to get out of the conversation. He's walking aimlessly.

He's like, he opens a door and it's just a bunch of Rathay looking at him. Sorry. You find the mess hall by virtue of your nose, I'm sure, because there's always something cooking in a place like this for the hungry people that live and work here. So true. Long wooden tables in a wide room house many people currently enjoying. a hot meal. Seems like there's kind of like a cafeteria style set up

where people line up along one side and just get served a scoop of whatever is stewing this morning. Red lines up. Yeah. You are given a spoon, a bowl, and a mug. The bowl is full of some kind of porridge that's studded with nuts and mushrooms. The cup is immediately filled with a kind of

kind of strong, bitter tea. Nice. And there's a scene where Doran and Kralath are right next to each other with their little trays. And Kralath says, I'm just saying, Doren, I mean, your name precedes you as a blacksmith, and you haven't crafted anything for us. You haven't made a single shield or a sword or anything. I haven't seen any blacksmith. You have to understand, Kralath, that these things take time and skill.

I mean, I can't just pop into a, you know, a blacksmith. Smith's Guild and start using their tools. You know, I've got my own tools at home. You do realize that. Where is your home again? Well, in the Great Peak Mountains. What are you going to take us there? Well, when, you know, when we're done...

We've been to Jack's home. Yeah, well, you know, I don't... I don't really... I don't really... It's out of the way, you know? I don't really... Well, well, I'm not hiding anything from you guys. I just haven't gotten a chance to...

I feel like we're pretty close, probably. No. No. And Kralov sits down at the table. Oh, we're not close at all. I saw a dwarf, so I assumed that we were close. No, if you go southeast, I think, for 20-odd days travel. Oh, okay.

It's a long way southeast to water deep even, like... Maybe 40 days travel. You know, I'm really not good with travel time. Oh. And you guys are like standing, looking out over the cafeteria. Yeah. I feel like after Red gets his food, he goes and walks over to one of the rowdiest tables there. of all dwarves.

Hey, guys! The table all just turns and looks at you. Hi, my name is Red, red-handed Robin. I'm part of the Nightstone Four. I was wondering, any, like, wedges in between two of the burly... I was wondering. Move over. Move over.

You take you. Ah, thank you. Personal space. I was wondering if any of you know about Wubella or maybe her marital status. One of the dwarves spits on the floor. floor. And then he wipes a dirty hand across his beard. You see there's just a smear of ash and porridge. Oh, you're so tall for dwarves. You're so big. Doran is not the messiest dwarf here by far. He says, who's asking? Hi. Redhead and Robin. I just introduced myself,

you big dummy. Hey, Jack. And I turn across the room and I'm like, this big old dummy dwarf. I already introduce myself and he didn't remember my name. What a dummy. And I turn back. You look back and he's gone. Oh. And then you turn around to hear someone's throat clearing at your elbow. Oh, here. And I pull out a cough drop. It's the dwarf. He's come around the side of the table and he's standing at your side with his arms crossed in front of him, smoldering eyes. What did you just call me? And Red stands up slow. I a dummy, I think Wait, did I call you stupid

Or did I just think you were stupid? You stay away from Webella Why? Just you don't even Don't... Hey, hey Are you and Webella You know, a thing?

He pushes you Oh, what do I tell you? Doren! This guy pushed me! Brit, don't be causing fights with the local miners. Come on. Another dwarf from the table comes around and takes him by the shoulder

Come on, Narol, you can't You can't be starting this again Someone says their name And you can't You can't be acting like this man No, Narol, is that your name? Yeah, what? That's a cool name, all right

I know it is, my mommy gave it to me Well, that's cool My mommy gave me my name too That's, we got that in common Look, I'm not trying to start Nothing with Wubella I'm just curious if, you know And I turned to his friend

Would Narl and Wabella an item? You know what they say about curiosity? No, what? I'm curious, tell me. And Kralov has sat down at this empty table and he's pulled out the box that he received in the dungeon from the goblin. And he opens it up and he pulls out this necklace that was in there that he detected faint magic on.

And he begins to inspect it. He like holds it up to the light and he puts on his goggles and he pretends to zoom in on it but it doesn't actually zoom in and he takes his goggles off. And just sits there. with it while this scene plays out in the background. And I feel like Doran the last in line to get food

kind of turns, he sees this little scuffle going on with Red and these dwarves, and he sees Kraloth examining this necklace, and what's Jack doing? I mean, Jack was about to sit down and then Red started some shit, so he's sort of in that, like, liminal space between sitting down at a table

to have breakfast and trying to figure it if he has to go help his friend if he's going to get in trouble. Everyone knows that space. He's just, Standing awkwardly in the middle of a mess hall, not sure which way to go. Just classic nerd can't decide where to sit with his tray. And so Doran sort of does similar, but he instead is looking for, you know, like maybe one of the more experienced looking dwarves, maybe one of the older dwarves, maybe a table that's not quite full. Yeah, I wouldn't say that it's like full in here by any means.

It's kind of later in the morning. I'm imagining maybe there's a dwarf or two that are sitting like, you know, on their own. Sure. You can find a couple loner, older dogs. The jocks, the nerds. Yeah, Doran, he's just looking for some, you know, general advice about the area, maybe best paths to take up the spine of the world. That's fair, yeah. Some guy who's done with his bowl of gruel, and he's just kind of fuming over his bitter tea. So Dor walks up and he's like, fuming over your bitter tea, I see. Yeah, yeah. I think I'd like to join you and fume over my own bitter tea if that's not a problem There's always room for another friend to fume over a tea with. Come on, sit down.

Thank you, thank you. My name's Doran. We're just passing through. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. He extends a hand. Radno. Radno. Meanwhile, Red heads back over to the table with Jack and Kralov and he tucks into his gruel. I don't know what that guy's problem was. I think he didn't like being called a dummy. He shouldn't have been so dumb, then. Doran asks about, you know, how long this guy's been working here and, you know, what he does. He tells you his life story.

It is engaging. He's basically the Dwarven James Bond. He's here undercover. It's Morridden, walking amongst the live. That's right. And you're the first one to fume over bitter. tea with him in 200 years. He grants you dwarf powers.

You get to fly. But only underground. Underground flight. So it's very limited. Kraloth, are you trying to attune to this magic item? No, I'm just trying to, well, I'm trying to figure out what it does.

So the only way you will know is by putting it on. Yeah, okay. It's probably cursed. I got to cast Remove Curse on it. Do you have that? Yeah. Rock and roll.

You do it and your magic intertwines in through the metal links of the chain. Yeah. See what I just did there, Jack. Yeah. I'm learning. Don't attune to magical items without first casting Remove Curse, you see. Yeah. Yeah.

So Kralath attunes to his balloon backpack and he... puts on this necklace and tries to attune to it. Unattunes or disattunes? Unitunes. D-un-attunes. D-a-tunes? D-a-tunes? D-un-ir-tunes.

You spent some time over breakfast contemplating the form of this necklace and feeling its weight around your neck. The necklace itself is curious. Its metal is silver, though under certain light it seems, more golden. And the amulet of it, the pendant, is actually covered in images of eyes that shift and dart in all directions. After an hour and you attuned to this item,

you know that it is called the necklace ocular. It gives you a plus one bonus to your initiative roles. Oh, lucky you. Oh, wow. That's useful. Mm-hmm. That brings me up to a whopping. Zero.

For the first time. Cool. Just a little minor magic item, but still kind of neat. Yeah, thank you. Freaky amulet, Kraloff. Yeah, yeah. I think it's kind of fun, and I bring it around to the front of my chest,

and I kind of hold it up, and then put it back down, so I'm wearing it. I feel slightly faster. You look slightly faster. The eyes on the necklace are never looking where your eyes look. They're always looking somewhere. It's really interesting. Yeah, they seem dodgy as shit. Okay, I'm looking left.

No, I mean, they're not matching our eyes as we look at it. It's always looking away. Wait, is it doing something different for red than it is for Jack? Yeah, one's winking at me. I'm not seeing any winking. It's very strange. That one is. Look, it's winking. No. Oh, wait. No, that's gruel. Never mind. Hold on.

There's gruel on that one. Now, that one's winking. Look at it. Mm. Where's Doren? I don't know. I don't know what that dwarf's problem was either. is asking us about Wubella. Doren seemed interested. Didn't you see that? That's, that's kind of fun. Look, Kralov's got Lady What's her name, and you've got handsome What's his face, and, you know, Doran could have somebody, then everyone would have someone. It could just be there's some politics in this small town that, as people who have been here all of a hot five minutes, we might not be entirely aware of, and there could be some places where it's sensitive, and people poking at them might not appreciate that.

nah that's too complicated they're just simple people oh i see the dm can't possibly come up with intrigue for each and every place you stop at i guess i i just feel bad for dorin hey dorin come back over here and doran's already standing up and moving and you see him across the room sort of like saying thanks and giving this guy a handshake and he comes back and he sits down at the table Well, I was speaking to that older gentleman over there And he basically told me that You know, there's a trail that we can take up into the mountains It's just north of the town here.

It's called Breakbeak Trail or something like Brick, Brack, something like that. I love the idea that you're like, I met a wise and old adventurer. And like in the backer and you see this guy emptying the garbages. He's like I do it was like taking a break. He's like a sanitation. Oh, and also, you know, he also did say that apparently there's a big storm that's going to be coming in.

So I don't know if we want to delay our route up there or if we want to go now and try and get ahead of the storm. But I imagine we're in for some pretty crummy weather. Did he mention how long the storm would last? He said like, a year. He said three or, you know, two or three days, but I mean, you know, I don't know how much I believe that. I mean, I suppose he has worked here for several years. He would know. It's kind of the season for it, though, right?

Is it the season for it, Jack? Yeah, I mean... Winter? Well, this is my point. You know, traveling in icy mountains in winter is inherently dangerous, but we can't just wait till spring to have a nicer trek up to the spine of the world to the temple of autumn. I agree. It's out of the way for a reason, and we might have to...

Well, I know Jack wants to stay, but we can't wait. for warmer weather. I think we should push on. I think Doran and Kralath and I are right. Sorry, Jack. Sorry, Jack. We've got to keep pushing. Okay. Let's do it. I think it's not even about, you know, yes, we should push on. I think it's we should have breakfast and then really... Doran's right. We should wait for warmer weather.

Sorry, Jack. I know you want to push out. Are you okay, Red? What? He's being a bit silly, isn't he? He's having like a weird, like, reaction to the tea. Yeah. That mushroom was really throwing him for a loop. Very strong. Doreen gives him a whack on the back of the head. Just like a swat. Brotherly, but almost like too hard. All right.

Well, if it's time to go, it's time to go. Kralov pushes himself up and grabs his things. You guys ready? Yeah, I guess it's time to go. Red looks down in his uneaten gruel. Let's go. What have you been doing this past hour? I've literally been looking at a necklace for an hour.

Watching you with your necklace and talking to now. All right. Let's hit the road. You enjoy your warm. warm breakfast together and then you pack your things and head out onto Break Beak Trail up into the mountains.

Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Heather Nichols, Alexander Reed, Merlin, Christopher Ryan Evans, Mitchell Cadwell, Colin Burkhart, K.R. Kelly McLeysot, Creature, Michelle Kohn, Melanie Shen, Maggie Breeze, Stephen

love it, Brian Blass, Lars, Gray, Bryn Marie, Daniel, Tara, Doug, Marie Kahniski, and Michael and Brianna Webber. See you soon. Ooh. I got to say, I'm really happy with my claps today. Some days they don't turn out so nice, but these ones I was like perfect form. I think I nailed it. Good for you, Rob.

Perfect form on my claps. Guess what I did again. Forget to record. No, I just recorded them on the wrong mic. They're very, they're there. They're just small. They're like little nubs. It's like your one hand clapping.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I guess technically yours, yours picks up, but what? Oh, you look like you're trying to swat away a fly. There's a point where it crosses over into like, that's kind of disturbing. I don't, the fingers are wet. not that kind of podcast. I'm ready. Is everybody ready to play

Dungeons and dragons? Dungeons and I thought it was Dungeons and dorkholes. With you it is. Dorkhole. Ready. I'm ready. I got my character sheets right there.

It's got like fucking mustard on them. That's a receipt. Yeah, that's what I've been using. I've been rolling dive. I've been playing My same character. I created a real character

of this menu. Exactly. Without mail, right? That's my class. Without mail? Without mail?