Dice Shame - 18 | 'Off The Beaten Track'

Episode Date: February 13, 2020

The party wraps things up in Golden Fields before hitting the open road... 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the plan, you guys? Close your eyes, Doran. Close your eyes. Red, you've got to meet these. They're bears. Oh, buddy! Oh, how very nice. The is the same in Giant as it is in common.

Doren washes his beard. Thank Moradin. Two days overland to the east. What did that mark on your butto? This is from a blade. Why don't you roll a stealth check? Of course. No!

Roland, you've failed me for the last time. Hello all, and welcome back to Dyshame, episode 18, off the beaten track. This week's MVP is Chris Mooney for his kind review on Facebook. If you're enjoying the show, please review us on all platforms you utilize. Please review us on all platforms you utilize. Too robotic? If you're enjoying our show, you're going to love Thornvale. They're playing Monster of the Week.

It's narratively driven and follows the lives of three months. monster hunters as they struggle to protect a small island town in Florida from like giant alligators and wendigos and shit definitely give them a listen and while you're at it follow them on twitter and instagram yeah they're awesome are you ready to do this let's get into it so i was driving to work this week i'm on the 401 and i'm thinking about the game this shit is about to be cracked wide open it's a little bit intimidating to be honest and Okay, so I know that Alex likes RPGs because there's, like, infinite possibilities you get to do whatever the hell you want. Infantissimo.

That's the opposite. Yeah, that means little. Infinite. Yeah. Infinite opportunity. I guess what I'm asking you guys is, like, railroad versus sandbox. What do you prefer? Railroad.

Yeah? I personally like a sandbox. I prefer railroad, I guess, if those are the two options, because sandbox also implies, like, why don't we just go? just go, fuck off, let's go to the beach. To me, Sandbox is, let's all tell a story together, and Railroad is, I want you to experience my story. I don't know

if it's that easy, really, because I think there's elements to that that are true in this campaign, that we're also telling a story, but we're also being told a story. I don't know if there's a clear cut way to say what I feel the difference being a railroad in the sandbox is, other than I think what we're generally getting as the sandbox is much more open, you can do a lot more, and

railroad, to me, is a lot more structured. Yes. There's a level of it, too, that is changed by the fact that we are recording it and not playing it. Oh, absolutely. With all of our awesome fans, woo! We are currently all sitting in Naxine's apartments above the stable house. She just did a little bit of story time with Naxine, where she told you about the thousand-year war between giant-kind and dragon kind.

And she asked you to go and meet with her friend who's a dragon expert in Waterdeep, so that you can enact one of her thoughts, one of her plans, which is make some friends with good dragons and set up a force of them that will fight against the giants for us. I don't think that's a bad idea at all, but I do think maybe we need to talk to other friends as well, Maxine, if that's all right. Obviously, we want to say hi to Z and all that kind of stuff,

and who knows, we might find the wind blows us somewhere else. Oh, of course. I hope that you'll take my advice into, consideration and Z uh sits forward on the couch from behind where Maxine was sitting and she goes hello hi is he how are you doing oh um sorry I thought that you were do you wanted to talk to me yeah a little bit yes no offense Maxine but I I would love to talk with him in private um for a little bit if that's okay and Maxine's like um oh of course uh well unless there's anything else I can do

for you all, I really must rest. My powers have been expended. One quick question for you, Naxine. Of course. They attacked Goldenfields. They've attacked it before. Do you have any inkling or idea of why they would attack Golden Fields? Is there something that they're looking for here? Kraloth, the reason that I assume the Giants came here is the same reason that I'm here. Golden Fields is the breadbasket of the North.

It is the reason why all human and humanoid civilizations have any substantial amount of food. They take out golden fields, they take out our food, and then they wipe out humanity. Is that what you think they want? I am worried about that, yes. It must take a lot to feed a giant, too. Yes. Not to mention all those goblins and bug bears parading along behind him, that's a lot of mouths to feed. Yes, and if you recall, when we stumble.

Upon them, the first moments of the battles this afternoon. They were picking up livestock and eating them. Indeed. So maybe they were just hungry. I wonder if Giant Kind celebrates High Harvest Tide as we do, whether they have their own festivals and celebrations, something to ponder. Is there a chance I would know the answer to that, having studied ruins of giant temples archaeologically? Roll history check.

I would love to. Fifteen. Yeah, you're not sure. would presume that because certain species of giants have high enough intelligence and wisdom that they probably have their own celebrations. They do worship deities. For sure, I've uncovered a temple of one of them. I mean, they do celebrate lots of things. I don't know if they have a harvest-tide festival. Lots of them aren't very big on harvests. Well, if this was them celebrating their high-harvest-tide, they celebrate a lot differently than we do. Indeed. Exactly, yeah.

Yes. Let's remember that not all giants are the same. Zephyros, obviously. He was tall. What are you talking about? Tell me of this. Who is Zephyros? Oh, he's this really cool dude who gave us a piece of his cloud.

What do you mean? He was a cloud giant. And I reach into my bag and I reach into my bag and there's like clinking and I pull out like a small vial of cloud stuff. He is a cloud giant. Check it out. Can I see that, please?

You can see like red like bringing it towards her but then also like debating. Of course. And he like hands it to her. Doren, I mean, you're a dwarf of war. should say? Is it part of sort of an attack to destroy someone's food, the source of feeding their troops? Maybe this is just prelude to a war. With every war, there are several fronts you're facing. There's stopping the trade from going in and out of areas of your enemies. By my

observation, I wouldn't say that's what was happening in this particular situation. It looked to me, like I said before, that they were attacking and eating at the same time. Well, here's my thinking. Knight Stone, we believe, or at least I believe, was attacked for whatever valuable stone was in the center of its town. We don't know much about it, but it was the most powerful object in Knight's Stone. It seems like in Goldenfields, the most powerful thing it offers is its food supply. So perhaps that's what they were after. It's very possible, but these people are not the enemy, unless everybody is the enemy. Doran has a moment of self-reflection and metaphysical distrust. Naxine hands the vial of cloud stuff back to you.

I thought so, too. It smells like peppermint. Well, I'll be sure to pass on your regards to my sister when we get to Waterdeep, Naxine. Please do, yes. Perhaps we should get on the road. Well, Z wanted to talk to us. I think outside. Oh, yes. We leave Naxin's.

The road outside your place, not outside of place. Okay, goodbye, Naxin. Goodbye. Oh, goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Yes, goodbye. Bye.

Thank you for everything. You're so cool. As we exit the apartments above the stable house, Miros, who has been also with us this whole time, is sort of wiping his hands on his white fur and turns to the four of you. There are tears in his eyes. I have to thank you for coming all the way here to deliver the news of my parents' passing. If it weren't for that, Golden Fields might not have stood against all those very, very bad boys. I have to recommend you to Guillaume. to the nearby town of Amphale. It's not so far out of your way that you can't go on your way to water deep. Two days overland to the east. Listen, you didn't really have a chance to relax while you're here in golden fields. There's a beautiful tavern called the Staghorned Flaggin. Go there and give my regards to Arleosa Stone Hinge. She'll take care of you. We used to triaville.

together in the carnival back in the yay. Farewell, my friends. And he claps each of you on the back. You take care of that little tressum. I will. Bye-bye, Miroz. Goodbye, Kray-Loth. Goodbye, Miros.

Bye. Dorian, you and I will always share a special bond. It's true. Keep that fur nice and white. You are the Yeti. He salutes you. What was the name of his caravan friend? Arleosa Stonehenge, who runs the staghorned flag in Amphail.

Two days travel overland to the east. Well, I mean, if it's on the way to Waterdeep anyway, and if we decide that we want to go to Waterdeep, I think that's a great idea. I love the sound of Amphail. Sounds lovely. I agree. But they got some good food there, too.

Z, you seem to want our attention, and now that we're alone. She motions that you follow her back to the Abbey. If you don't mind, I like to talk somewhere private, if that's okay. Of course. Absolutely. Z leads you all back to the Abbey, to her quarters. She's got a, like a single room, basically. It's just got a couple of personal

effects. It's very sparsely furnished. Do we pass the bears? Yeah, they lived. So just seeing the bear out of my corner of my eye, I stopped me. Red, you've got to meet these. They're bears that just live in the abbey. Oh, cool. Yes, yes. You met Darlo. This is, this is Tilby, his mate. Hi. The two friendly black bears like waddle up to the five of us. What do they sound like, Alex? Oh, yes, exactly. And they, like, nose around at you. You smell like the crumbs of cinnamon buns and cheese from Maxine's apartment. Yeah, and I'm going to communicate with them.

Okay. What do you want to communicate? I just want to see how they're doing, be like, hi. They're doing so great. They're doing so great. Are they affected by magic of any sort? No. Got any blueberries?

Can I ask them why they, like, wandered into town? Yeah, they're like, we smelled all the good food here. Far out, dude! And I, like, hold up my hand for a high-five. They're nuzzle at you. They're very nice. I like them. They're sort of, like, happily walk away, waggling their tiny little tails.

Anyway, bye-bye, friends. We need to go see Z. Alex, do you have inspiration? No. I want to give you inspiration for your bare noises. Really? Thank you. Z leads you to her room, and she says,

well, you might not believe it, but given my current station in life, I'm well-born. and I discarded a life of travel and luxury to attend Shantay in this lovely city. My parents were wealthy merchants and left me with a vast inheritance. I'm not trying to brag or anything. It's a familiar story. I left Nobles of Waterdeep, too, to go traveling around. It's another thing we have in common. That's really fun.

We're very similar people, it seems. She starts going through the chest at the foot of her single bed, removing her simple belongings one at a time, until she comes to a small parcel of leather cloth bound in a piece of string, which she starts to untie. When my parents were alive, we lived in Baldur's Gate for some time. I mean, I say we lived there, but we spent a lot of time traveling. They own several businesses in Waterdeep and had many business relations there. What am I trying to say?

We had close ties with house than. She holds up a black pearl pendant, exquisitely crucial. crafted and dully gleaming. If you are going to water deep, like Naxine said, give this to the head butler of House Thann. His name is Koldar Marskill, and he'll know what this means.

That I bequeath my inheritance to you. Just that I'm so indebted to you for everything you've done for us, for the city, for Chantay. That's incredible. Thank you so much. We get your inheritance? And Doran steps up, takes the pendant,

Not in a greedy way. This is incredible. Is it more than a hundred years old? It is. It's worth 750 gold. Look at this, Jack. The metalwork that's holding this stone in place is brilliant. It's, yes, it's very pretty. But look at this! And there's something on like her wall, something like mundane. There's like a wood carving of a sheaf of wheat. Did you do this? I did.

It's so beautiful. Look, guys! Jack, is this over a hundred years old? Oh, it's so nice. No, I carved it. I love it. Can I have it? Okay. I will tell everybody that looks at this who made it. And let it be known. Your inheritance will not be squandered by us alone. You promise to put it to good use.

Anyway, I have prayers to attend to. And the wall needs rebuilding, obviously, so I should get going. Next time we pass through, I hope our paths cross. It would be lovely to share another meal with you under more peaceful times. Yeah. And as we walk away, Dorn turns back and looks at Z and says, Thanks. As we're walking out, Red's like, you know, I'd really like to say thank you to Liverless and the other trees.

They helped us tremendously. Oh, buddy! He's right behind you. Yeah, and I like hop up into his branches as he like lowers them up. It was so fun hanging out in your head. Oh, Red. Oh, you're quite the interesting specimen. Oh, speak for yourself.

Look at you. Yeah, you're one hell of a tree, Liverless. I'm so glad I got to be there with you as we fought. Back those scum. Yes! Mix my roots. Curl and twist us to think of them. The nerve!

And thank you so much, again, to you and your friends. We would not have been able to do it without you. You really are the guardians of this place. What will you do now? I stay here. This is my home. It's proven to me now more than ever that this is where I belong. Stay here.

Stay still. Grow some apples. Get your hands off my apples. What are you doing going around picking off apples? However, I would see you fine adventurers Enabled in the best way I know how Here's what I say Seek out my creator

A fine old moon elf named Air Glass A member of the Emerald Enclave And a fabled giant slayer of old He last lived in Goldenfields about 30 years ago when he left on a pilgrimage to Shadow Top Cathedral in order to meet with an old triant named Turlag. I'm sure that he'll know exactly what's going on and what to do about it. That's a wonderful idea. We very well might do that. Thank you. You should. Where would we need to go for that? Well, Shadowtop Cathedral is in the high forest. Is that like next to

weed city man Blunt Town Yeah It's about 18 days walk away from here Hmm Well maybe we'll go there I think if we don't go there right away

I promise you we'll make it there at some point I think you should Thank you so much Liferliss I suppose we have some discussing to do Shall we once more to the tavern maybe Pour ourselves an ale before heading off I look at Red's quiver and I look up at the branches where Liferless was hit with a rock,

and I see some of the twigs kind of dangling down. Hey, Liferless, I see you were damaged a little bit in that battle. Oh, yes, merely a scratch. Those branches, will you be needing them? No, they'll fall off eventually. Would you mind terribly if my friend Red took them? Oh, what for? What for?

Well, Red is an expert flex. I think you're right I would be using a piece of you to stamp out some more foes It would be a way for you to continue to help us On our adventure I've never heard of such a thing I think that's

Wonderful very great idea Kralath That's inspiration worthy I was gonna say do you have I do not have inspiration All right All right oh dang never mind It fell on the floor

Yeah you're pretty pretty cool. That's so cool. Yeah, I'm going to climb up. I'm going to take some wood of a magical tree. Thank you so much, Liffelis. And great idea, Kralov. I love it. So what's the plan, you guys? Like, talk to me about all of this stuff. Let's take a short rest. Yeah, I wouldn't mind the hour to buy some incense and get Kieran back and... Yeah, and discuss what we're doing. Maybe we should go shopping together. Okay, well, then let's do some shopping. Let's take a short rest. Let's present this. What the hell? Let's give

it to him now, Kralath. Doren. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Grayloth and I've had something pretty fantastic. I don't know if I want to close my eyes. Just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. And I reach into my bag of holding and I pull out the large giant drinking horn that we found at the dead giant. And Kralith and I are like holding it like

Three, two, one, Open your surprise! Wow. That's great. It's a drinking horn. Yeah, I see that. You can fix so much beer out of it. Oh, yeah, lots of beer.

You could even put meat in there. You got to carry it quite a far away. Or meat. What am I going to do with this? Even be. You know what? You guys are, I really appreciate the thought here, but. He seems so appreciative.

He does. I just, I don't know. know what I could possibly do with it. And then out of the corner of his eye, he sees Miros's tavern. Hey, thanks. You wouldn't mind if I, uh, re-gifted this, would you? It's yours. And with that in mind, I think we should get some drinks. I'm going to give this to Miros. And in fact, I think we should all give it to Meros. There's some sort of insignia for his tavern. So we walk into the bar carrying this giant horn then. And I turn to Miros and I say, Miros, we'd like to present you with this drinking horn.

Oh, how very nice. I love it. I could hang this right on top of the mantel here. That's right. That's exactly what we were thinking. It's going to be great for you to tell the story of the giants that came to Goldenfeld. Not only that, you were in the battle that killed it. That's right.

I love it. Everybody that comes in, I'll be able to tell them we took down the giants here. look and it fits so well and he goes and hangs it above the mantle and we're going to get a quick drink then we're going to do some shopping and then we're going to jet so we have two leads in Waterdeep as well as Jack you have

someone that would put us up my Tornton is there he's he runs a feast hall he'd put us all up I think that's a great idea additionally I mean Kreyloff and I met in Waterdeep it'd be very nice to maybe go back to

the old place that we met have another toast over that It's been too long. Go to memory lane. And Miroz also mentioned someone in Amphel, since it's only two days away and sort of on the way. Maybe we should stop by there first. I don't think we need to go to the forest. Not at this stage, no.

I think it's something that we should definitely keep in the back of our minds, especially if there's nothing that's really gained from knowing the dragons. Or if we need more information on the giants. I imagine if we do end up trying to find good dragons, there are lots. The high forest is known as like an area of. full of layers and things. We may end up going there if we're there. Yeah, it is after all a forest.

So I guess the plan is then. We do some shopping here. We start on the road to Amphail, maybe spend a night on the road, and then when we get there, deliver the message from Miros at the Staghorned flag in and then head down to Waterdeep.

Agreed. Yeah, we go to Amphail and then we had to Water Deep. So is there anything anyone else wants to shop for besides some... I think it'd be wise based on the battle we had here today. We didn't use any health portions,

but I think it might be wise. to have a few more up our sleeves. I would like to have at least one. I totally agree. I think buying a few more health potions is no hurt whatsoever. Not to mention we have some good money and Red like opens the bag of holding and looks through and he's like, I gather that we got about 1600

from just today. I've never even conceived of that much money. My goodness, we're rich, Jack. We're rich. It is fascinating to think of those giants walking around with sacks full of gems. While we're in town, the branches that you've got, there, which I saw you bringing up. Are those from

Lephyrus? Lephylus, yes. I'm going to fashion those during my downtime at the campfire on the way to Amphile in Waterdeep. I thought so. However, you are right, and I will buy a new quiver of 30 arrows. Well, I'll make you some head. If only there was a small cat-like creature that I could take feathers from.

Oh, would familiar feathers work? That'd be weird, eh? Rilocks? I think if you used Kieran's feathers, they would disappear if ever Kieran was like, taking He's kind of existence again? Did you say feathers? Oh, look over here.

And you see, you see Meros walk over to like the corner where there's like a little cushiony bed? And he's like, here, they're always falling off of relics. He's pulling feathers out of the thing. And he brings you over a handful. I love it. So we got like wood from the tree. We got steel from Doran and we got feathers from relics.

Jack just aside to Kralath. Man, that Miroz guy's got ears like incredible. He's a barking. It's true. I do. It's like he's in one of our heads. Well, wonderful. So we want some health potions.

Jack, you said you wanted more... There are a few more supplies to perform the ritual to summon Kieran back from the realm he's in now. I might get a couple extra. So, we're going to spend a little time shopping real quick. We're going to buy health potions worth $250 gold. Jack is going to buy 30 gold pieces worth of... Incense, herbs, and charcoal. Oh, I might spend that hour some of...

Kieran back then. Kieran, you're amazing. You might have saved Naxine's life there. Just incredible. That hurt a lot. It was so brave of you. You're incredible. Well, I do what I need to do, I guess.

Amazing. Justin or Kralath wants to buy two more platinum rings with 50 gold each. We are also going to buy 10 more days of rations for each person, which is 20 gold pieces. I'm going to buy two quivers of arrows, which gives me 40. That's only two gold. One gold piece for 20. bolts, which Kralath and Doran are going to split. And finally, I'm going to buy a rapier for 25 gold pieces because it is a better hit,

a 1D8, than my short sword, and it uses finesse, which means I can add my dexterity. Karani! Karat-stabby! Hi-ya! And, like, Red jumps in the frame with this new rapier, like, Hachita-da! What do you think, Jack, and I hold up my rapier towards you? Mm-hmm. I was thinking of a name for it.

Any ideas? Matches your wit. And I hold it up, like next to me. I'm like, wist. All right, I like it. Seems appropriate to me. I think we're ready to hit the road, then. What say you, gents?

I do like the idea of going to the coast and building a boat and going to search the islands just off the coast here. Why don't like being railroaded or sandboxed into anything? Sorry. Bad joke, bad joke. It's the first day of Marpenoth, leaf fall, a new month. So you travel overland. And it's a nice day.

The sun is just rising, lighting the meadows beautifully. Tell me a little bit about how you guys spend your morning. I think Red, similarly to before, is kind of scouting ahead. Again, I ignore difficult terrain, and we as a group can't get lost. So I feel like that's because Red is naturally taking the lead, sort of hopping up and moving about little places relatively quickly and quietly. And generally just enjoying the outside nature. show where he is most at home.

Kralath, are you following in the rear the way that you were before? Yes, I think I would. I've got a nice view over Jack and Doran's head, and I like it back here. I kind of like sitting back and watching as the others walk and do their thing. Makes me feel less alone. Doran's got sort of a waddle, but he's got this leather-bound hardcover book. As he's walking along, he's watching Jack take notes and make measurements. and kind of looking around and Doran himself is very observant and he's making note and looking

at the sun and kind of measuring the distance from the horizon to the sun and I think Jack's doing a lot of a lot of that sort of likes to keep a map of as we go in every couple of minutes you know embody Kieran and fly up and get a bird's eye view and is sort of projecting that down and showing what that top down view looked like to Doran and making map but I think the rest of the time he's sort of walking through it almost sounds like he's talking to himself as he's like reviewing some basic giant words and verb conjugations and things with Kieran trying to sort of start teaching them the giant language. And Doren's kind of like every now and he's like, what was that? Did you say something about the direction we're going? Oh, no, sorry, I'm teaching Kieran giant.

Oh, you're teaching. You're teaching him giant. Well, what's really fascinating about Tressim's is that they have a brilliant capacity for learning. And when Kieran is in that form, he becomes quite intelligent. It seems to me that we're going to maybe encounter more giants. on this adventure. Oh, would it be possible for me to join in on those lessons? Sure. I mean, if a cat can learn it, I mean, I think I'll be able to learn a little language myself. Are you talking about me?

And Red's like all of a sudden right beside you. Oh, Red, you're not a cat, are you? Oh, no, of course not, but I do speak giant. Oh, I speak a number of languages. Red, your keen eyes spot a figure in the distance, hunched in the divot between two hills sits a figure digging idly in the ground. It is a large figure. I think I would gesture towards Kralath. Kralath and I, we've traveled before and we've been in combat and he understands that this is always the way that he and I travel throughout land that I usually

take a head start. So I raise my hand to a fist to sort of give him the motion to signal to the others to hold up. I'm going to hide if I can. And I'm just going to crouch and watch. 24. Okay. So you're watching this figure from, I'm imagining like the way that a cat looks before it pounces. You're just kind of hunched in this long grass peering out, totally silent. My shoulder blades raised. What do I see? You see a huge creature. He is well armored with probably some kind of plate male, fiery red hair. And he is digging in the land around him with this long instrument. He is surrounded by three little figures you can't quite make out, but every now and then he sort of swats one of them in an irritated way. Roll an insight check for me, please. Just a bit to ask. 17. Seems pretty

irritated, kind of in a bad temper. Yeah, I would spend another moment just analyzing to see if there was a way we could move north or south around them in a wide enough arc to pass by relatively unnoticed. You know, if there's a crop of trees over here, if there's long grass over here. Yeah, if you move, you know, 10 minutes out of your way total to go around him, you can definitely escape his notice. Yeah, and I would come back down in a very hush tone and say, I think I saw what I would imagine to be a fan giant over there with a number of small figures, halflings or gnomes or possibly goblins. He was swatting them away in a very angry way. Perhaps Kieran could go and take a flyby a little closer.

They're pretty small and stealthy. Yes. Yeah. I would make sure as long as there's no way. See, this is the one thing that I think new Kieran doesn't have as advantage because an owl is like an owl. But like a tressum is like a pretty, you wouldn't really see those in nature. Exactly. Would you like Kieran to go and take a look?

I think that'd be a great idea. Why don't you roll a stealth check? I'd love to. How do you feel about an eight? Okay. Kieran stalks toward this fire giant that is being attended by three. small flitting figures and they come to within about 40 feet of the giant when they step on a twig and all of a sudden four heads turn toward this tressum standing in the grass the giant goes back

to what it's doing digging in the ground but these small creatures fly over they are made of fire and smoke. They have wings and long noses, and Kieran will have to roll initiative. Okay, 21. All right. It's your turn, Kieran. Kieran is going to take movement, trying to find some cover, something I can hide behind, get out of sight, and then hide. Great. So you're going to try to get 40 feet away and make a stealth check. Natural one. No.

Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Roland, you've failed me for the last time. Bye, Roland. Bye, bye, bye. Ooh. Sorry, Karen. These small creatures fly after Kieran, and they use their whole movement to get directly up on him. They burst through the bushes that Kieran is hiding in, and they see them up close for the first time.

Their skin seems to be roiling with magma. and they look ready to get down to business. From where we're standing, what do we see? You see Kieran fly into some bushes and three, like, smoky orange creatures follow him. Okay. Do you want to intercede? Yeah, I'm trying to figure out if now is the right time to make him disappear or not. I think seeing them all, like, dive onto the bush that Kieran just jumped into,

I think I'm just going to put, you know, make Kieran disappear into a pocket dimension as my action seeing them like dive into the bush and and kieran is no longer dorin simply observes what the red giant does and i'm going to immediately start saying let's quietly swing about 10 minutes south and go around i agree we don't want any business with this one nope jack what do you think i might i might have kieran appear in front of me okay within 30 feet of me okay just to be like what you know what did you see they're they're clearly elemental creatures some kind terrible Based on their description, do I discern anything about them? Does it remind me of anything or?

Roll an arcana check. 12. Yeah, these are probably elementals, fire elementals of some kind. You're not sure. Okay. We're going to be moving quickly while this is up. Roll stealth, all of us. 12.

12? Yeah. Six. Okay. 14. 16. Okay. So overall as a group, you travel fairly stealthily back down the backside of

this hill and then swing around wide of this valley where the giant is digging. Can we still observe? He seems despondent scratching away at whatever it is in the ground that he is trying to unearth. He seems less like he can't do it and more than he's just like fucking tired. Mark the spot on the map. Doran will... Good thinking.

So you travel for a few more hours. You end up in like a fairly secluded little cops of trees that seems like it would shelter any light from a campfire were you to light one somewhere that seems fairly safe maybe there's a babbling brook there's a little babbling brook with um maybe like streaks of light coming through a nice birch forest yeah yeah it's beautiful it's beautiful it marpinoth being leaf fall there there's a carpet of orange and yellow leaves underneath just like me i think i would be spending an evening time fletching those arrows Kralov is going to sit down close to Jack, and I'm picturing Kieran, like, sitting on Kralas' lap,

and Kralov doesn't even notice he's so, like, entrenched and trying to focus. There's, like, sweat coming down his brow as Jack is like, the. The, is the same in Giant as it is in common. The. Kralath is, like, drawing the letters in the dirt, and Kieran is scratching out the ones that are wrong. Oh, okay. Dorn goes to the babbling brook and washes his beard, and actually, He gives himself a good scrubbing.

I am relieved. You see him as he scrubs himself, and then you see him his little naked body go to a dirt to a dirt patch, and he rolls around in the dirt. Oh, like a sparrow, you take a dust bath? Yeah, that's really cute. He takes a wet bath, and then he gets in the dirt and gets himself muddy, and he's like, It's good for the skin. I think I'm fletching at the riverbank, and I'm like, and then when I was this out,

and I'm, like, fletching and, like, carving while you're, like, bathing, and I figured It's like this little scene where you and I are just chatting back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did that mark on your buttock? No, it's from a blade. It looks like a little tiger tail. Yes. It, uh, some sort of skewer I was skewered with.

And he tells a story about when he was hit in battle by a barbed arrow of some kind that he had to pull out himself. And a chunk of his ass came out with it. Ouch. Oh. And then after the stories are done, he finds a tree and falls asleep, fast asleep under it. And after that, I don't know. I suppose we all slowly retire one by one. Will you be setting a watch?

Can Kieran watch? Yeah. Yeah. Probably makes the most sense then. Okay. And you guys are going to level up. Amazing. Just in time for next week's episode.

Next time on Dice Shane. Oh, wow. I got all this cool new stuff. I can't believe someone's drinking out of my horn. You're going to love this spell I thought of. I'm down, guys. Kralov's down. Find out what happens now.

Next week on Dian-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Di- Shame. Perfect.