Dice Shame - 2-1 | 'A Fresh Start'

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

Imagine your best game of D&D. The shocks, the twists and turns, the moments that can’t be caught because you just had to be there. That’s Dice Shame.Join our DM Jo, her husband Harlan, their brother Alex & their best friends Rob and Alex as they experience those unmissable, gut-wrenching, heart-aching, joy-filled moments.This legendary AP releases a brand new episode every Thursday morning at 1:20 am!Content Warning: swearing, violence, horror, mental illness and suicide.Part of the Rusty Quill Network Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It sounds like an adventure. I'm shocked you beat me here. Oh, you found the books. I kind of screwed it up. That's what I said. So wait, where are you going? Well, I mean, it's a big question, right? We could use it as a cutting board.

That's it, final said. Gods, they're just like us. Right, Dorian? We're poor. Sorry. Hey, up, dummy. I know what I'm good at. See, Deadstone Clef on page 53.

You're talking about me, right? We'll help you. Cheers. Everybody. Cheers. Well, welcome to the Carper Cup, Mari. To those we've met and to those we've lost. Here.

Here. So you're not looking for money. Welcome back to Dice Shame. This is Season 2, Episode 1, A Fresh Start. MVP this week is Roanoke, who's been live blogging their listen on our Discord. Thanks for joining us, Roanoke. Thanks, Roanoke. This week we'd like to celebrate Dice Shame officially joining the

Rusty Quill Podcast Network. Woo! We are so proud to count ourselves among the incredible shows already on the network and we're looking forward to saying hello to some new listeners. If this is the first time you're joining us,

this is a serialized actual play podcast, so you may prefer to start at episode one. Or not, your choice. Regardless, thank you, Rusty Quill, for adding us to your stable of shows. All right, should we get down to business?

Let's do it. Hello and welcome to episode one of Season 2 of Dyship. My name is Joe Guthrie, and I'm the DM of this lovely actual play podcast, which is increasingly loosely based around the Dungeons and Dragons Storm King's Thunder campaign. Increasingly loose? I'm wildly proud to announce that we're the newest member of the Rusty Quill Network of Podcast. Hell's yeah. If you're new to the show, you might prefer to start at the action.

episode one because there's a ton of amazing content to absorb. But if you just hate that idea for some reason, this is a great place to start. If you're impatient and enjoy walking in movies halfway through like a child who doesn't know what's going on, we're going to make it easier for you by introducing ourselves here for a minute. Folks, let's just go around the table. Hi, my name is Harlan Guthrie. I play red-handed Robin, but in real life, I do a bunch of audio work and I edit this show, so I'm going to make myself sound really good during this intro. What kind of effects are going to be here? It's going to be a whole other level.

I really enjoy long walks on the beach. You know, my episode one intro is terrible as well. So this will just be that. I should listen back. I don't remember what I say. But that's the reality of me. But yeah, I make a podcast called Malevolent. It's an audio drama also on the Rusty Cool Network.

If you like spooky things, check that out because it's pretty spooky. But for now I'm playing this and I'm having a damn good time doing it. Aw, that's nice to hear. I'm Rob Diebald. I'm an engineer in real life, working in the glamorous world of wastewater. Oh. I played Jack Page, the Sion of the House of Wands, a fabulous wizard, half-elf dude. And you have new glasses. Yeah, you're looking great, Rob.

Thank you, yeah. Describe it more for the audio. This is an audio medium. And you've got chops going as well, Rob. I have chops going. They're mutton chops. The face is going out of control. It's true.

Getting quite impressive, actually. You just got roasted for no reason. Yeah. No, your face is out of control. Whatever you're doing over there on your face. He said it was out of control. I said I like them. My name is Alex Guthrie.

I am the third Guthrie now in this podcast. So now we officially outweigh the non-Guthrys in this podcast. I am by day an insurance broker. Yes, this is why I do D&D in my off time. Because in Dungeons and Dragons, I am this Dwarven warrior fighter named Dorin Akhtul Iron Fist. Is that German for warning? I don't know, no, it's a dwarven name, not German.

Dorn is the son of Dwaran, who's the father of Funden, who was the father of Frunden, who was the father of Faron, and his father, Boren. So I'm in a long line of dwarfs. Boring. As you all know, right? Doren's an experienced warrior and soldier, recognized for his involvement in famous battles.

He was taught from a young age to be a skilled blacksmith. And he recently lived a humble life deep in his homeland of the Great Peak Mountains. Aw. Who wrote that biography? Was that done writing about himself? That was me. That was me a long time ago. That was Alex.

Yes. Alex, the insurance broker. The insurance alter ego can write? Yes. On company time, it's very well. It's on the letterhead. From the desk of. Son of born.

Got to call this to print. Hello. My name is Alex Nersol, and I am the second Alex on the podcast. Good luck with that. And I play Mari Mian. who is the Water Janassi Druid on the show. I am kind of a mystery because I am the newest member of the cast. So everyone else knows as much as you guys do.

But who are you in real life? In real life, I also work in audio. I am a casting director and voice director, and I work on the podcast, Parkdale Haunt, which is a horror fiction podcast that I co-created, co-write, and I'm also on as an actor and it's very fun. Go give it a listen if you feel like spooky stuff.

Absolutely. Do it, cowards. Dream Parkdale haunt on my sound cloud. As you may have guessed from my change of last name, I'm married to the incredible Harlan Guthrie. That's me. I love D&D. I'm also a blood scientist.

I do blood bank technology by day and by night. Not a vampire, hashtag. No. That's exactly what a vampire would say, though. I study blood all night long. Blood scientists is the coolest job. It's the pause before I'm a blood scientist. Yeah.

You know. This is how I draw your blood. Give me your arm. Hey, Joe, I'm just going to have to get you to sample. Sorry. What? People love it when you eat that sounds, right? On podcasts.

Oh, whatever. They'll get used to it. I don't really know how else. to describe myself. Is that kind of sad that people are like, well, this is what I do for a living? It is sad. Is that just kind of a symptom of being like mid-30s?

No, you're great. All right, cool. Let's not have to press this intro. We don't need to get too introspective yet. Nobody really wants to know. I really enjoy solving mysteries. Like, I like escape rooms and I like escape room-related board games.

I mean, I tell people that I'm into F-1 and their eyes just glaze over. So I'm like, I just did it one second to go. We should redo this and just tell all lies. By day, I'm a vehicle mechanic. That's neat.

I do, I do work on. I'm a pilot. Hold on. I want to hear Alex name one thing about a car. It's still losing out to a blood scientist. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, right? You should have picked, like, vehicle reanimator. Like, you make transformers. I'm a Frankenstein dog, beat by day. I enjoy digging up brains. By night, I'm an actual Frankenstein.

My night, I'm a Frankenstein. I love that, by the way. When you say that, Frankenstein, then people go, it's actually the name of the doctor, and you go, ah. That's how you figure out who you shouldn't be having a conversation with. That's when you realize you're at D&D table. There's levels of pedantry for sure. That's right.

That's right. So there's Rob, as he scratches out, correct them after the stream on the ones of Frankenstein. Rob's at the top. Don't need to do this. Rob's just furiously tweeting on. stream currently. You'll never guess what they said on this episode. There's times to be a pedant

where it's kind of fun and interesting and it's times where you're just trying to be a jerk who's one-uping somebody and don't do that. I think an amazing question is like what is like the most pointless thing you're pedantic about because mine's like the difference between a gargoyle and a grotesque. Oh. What?

Clarify. One, a gargoyle to be a gargoyle also has to be a water spout. If it's just like a little spooky guy on the side of a building, it's a grotesque. It's just a statue. Wow. So if it doesn't have that water spout, it's not a gargoyle. I think you just broke a lot of people's

world. There was a TV show about it that was totally wrong. Yeah, they weren't spit in water at all. It should have been called grotesque. They were fucking spit in water at all. What the hell is this bullshit? Dear Disney. In the 90s. How

dare you? And that's the most unrealistic thing about Yeah, the hunchback Notre Dame lied. The entire thing, it's a lie. They weren't gargoyles, they were grotesques. Yeah, of course there are. They should have been leaking water at all times. Anyway, should we play some fucking D&D?

Yes, let's do it. Yes. Ow! Yeah. The continent of Féroon is ancient and wild. To the east, a sprawling desert churns and shifts. Deceptive.

and unknowable. To the west, its sister, a vast sea, waves like the deep blue dunes, and just as impenetrable, just as mysterious. The lords of these boundaries, and of the lands between them, have been warring since the writing of history began. Great worms, primordial dragons, possessed of profound magic and cunning, and their natural adversaries, their only true and worthy opponent, giant kind. Matched not only in size, but also in avarice, ambition and power, giants and dragons have rent the earth and bled the skies out of their hate for one another over and over again through the centuries. There's a chill on the air now, the familiar taste of this feud. Even the simple, small folk of Fyroon can tell something is happening.

Standing on the frosted deck of a tall ship coming into the harbor of Waterdeep in the late afternoon, even among those who have seen it a hundred times, the view is one of the marvels of Fyroon. A cosmopolitan city composed of soaring cathedrals, strong defensible walls studded with busy markets, four-story shops and apartments that lean conspiratorially over alleys, with filth and grime, and the pained glass celeriums of stately villas, most buildings turn their fair faces toward the west, out to the sea spray and to the setting sun, painting the splendid place in dusty orange hues. One such building is similarly painted, seeming to blush with afternoon light, a three-story tavern on a corner overlooking the dockward in the harbor. Its window-sill

planters are clotted with snow. Icicles hang from the tile hung above the front door. The sign painted in a confident hand and showing the nine of cups, the Copper Cup Festall. The door swings open to permit a customer and we see that the Copper Cup interior has been decorated for the midwinter season with hundreds of taper candles. On standing candelabras, mounted in pools of cooled wax onto attractive glass dishes, clustered in groups of 5 and 8 and 14, and a server is moving around lighting them, the glow gradually competing with the horizontal light of sunset. The bar is somewhat busy, though the staff has the casual competence that comes from being well-trained and well-paid, the happy babble of clients creating its own contented hum.

Through another set of doors, into a warm back parlor, a quartet of musicians is chatting, with one another, their instruments slung casually across their bodies or close at hand, one sitting down to mend a broken strength. Across the room, we see two men regarding a stack of paintings leaned up against the wall. The human man, Torren Cheldrick, early 40s with lovely chestnut hair and a dusting of carefully groomed stubble, moves with grace and confidence. This is his fest hall. He's thoughtfully pawing through the paintings and selects one. dragging it out and holding it up to you for your inspection, Jack. Rob, who are we looking at?

Yeah, you are looking at famed archaeologist Lord Johannes Iveben Page, known as Jack Page, to his friends, the half-elf scion of the House of Wands, turning to his partner and best friend, Taran, I'm sorry, it's a forgery. You can tell. No. No, this... The merchant assured me this was authentic. See here, in the corner of the signature.

are so distinct. It says Regan. Right. No, and it's a perfect copy, but you have to look at the ink. It's silver dust, and they just, Regan was not using that kind of ink. And you can tell because of the way it's bleeding in the page, it was put down afterwards and lacquered over to make it look old. Are any of these real? I mean, we should find out the forger's name, because they themselves are an artist. This is pretty great.

The frames are great. They're like, they're guilt. I will say that. Jack Page is a tall, five, six, fairly lanky, mid-50s, half elf. He's dressed for field work, for a noble from Waterdeep, that means a shirt that's way too fancy and a tie and a jacket. And he's got some adventuring gear, always close by bags and a book and a wand that's never too far.

And of course, his golden retriever familiar, running around his legs and through the bar, trying to get scraps from anybody who can sort of sneak something off of. I have this piece, too. I think this is a Nibryon Blasso. I think the colors are lovely, but he only paints gourds. Oh, this, no, this is a fabulous gourd. But it does leave you feeling somehow warm and fall-like.

And certainly in midwinter, it makes me wish we were a few months earlier. Torin nods a bit distractedly. I trust you'll make the right call, Jack. Excuse me for just a minute. I'm so sorry. And his eyes dart sideways toward the sound of gruff. cursing and the grating teeth of a saw in hardwood. By the roaring hearth, carpenter's tools are set out in a jumble, and sawdust has created small drifts here and there as an ill-planned bit of

DIY furniture repair is going on. Torren's attention is pulled here as inexorably as a trout on a line, and he stands over a short figure who is bent over some work. Alex, who do we see? You're talking about me, right? I'm not sure how tall the water ganassian is, that's all. You would be the short character who's doing a bad job. Short Alex and tall Alex. Yeah, as I say, you do realize I'm a blacksmith, not a carpenter, right? Well, that's why you're doing a bad job.

Right. So bent down over top of this, you know, half-built bench is this dirty, very smelly dwarf, and he is butchering this whatever he's building. I don't understand ridiculous nothing here works the same way it does in a forge

you can't mash it you can't bend it you can't heat it this is just silly you gotta cut everything I just asked you to even the legs a little bit

well I started on that corner one's like three inches one's like ten and then it went too short and so I had to move over to this corner and then I was sitting on it and I felt a little too tall

so then I thought well if we bring them all down Well, I mean, it'll make a nice footstool. Jack's just cramming, like, coasters under it. Like you're out of Kelsey's. Doran stands up, and before Torrin, is this 4'6, muscle-built, reddish-brown hair, you know, kind of brown-skinned dwarf, and, you know, his hair is all matted and full of dirt and dried blood and his face. We've been here for a week.

You've been here for a couple days for sure. self-care. I don't bathe. As soon as Doran baths, you know, he's going to get messy at the very next minute. He's like a toddler. And then today he's been

emptying out the fireplace. Why do the dishes or laundry anyways? They're just going to get dirty again. Exactly. I know this guy. I do appreciate your help. Well, as long as you appreciate it,

I mean, I kind of screwed it up. I mean, I'll tell you what. Next time I'm around a forge, I'll put you together a really nice custom steel bench. What was this? Was this a bench or was this a table? It was at one point. It was a bench. Yes, it was a bench.

Well, okay then. I will, I'll talk to Mascar and see if we can't get it. I'm sure. Refurbished at some point. And it's like this beautiful antique piece. My mid-century modern fur. There's a door propped open that leads out back where we see a narrow alley hung with a few lanterns. Most of the slush out here is cleared away by the industrious employees of the taphouse

and several of the kitchen staff are relaxing out here in the cold air before the evening dinner rush. An arrow sings down the length of the alley and embeds itself deeply into the far side where a wooden door has been defaced with simple dobed paintings. The arrowhead quivering in the pupil of the eye of a cartoonish, slavering frog hemith. The creature who loosed the arrow stands cavalierly beside the cooks, knocking another arrow. Harlan, who is this creature? This is red-handed Robin, a tabaxi. However, he has no ears, no tail, and he looks more like a fox than anything else. Why he has no ears and no tail is a mystery to this day. They are

clearly severed from long ago. 150 episodes later. You'll learn eventually when you've earned it. He is wearing a metal paldron over his left arm, the one that holds the bow forward, his right to hang back. He's wearing similar garb to that of Kevin Costner and Prince of thieves, a long scarf, sort of green Robin Hood-esque clothing, a breastplate as well as a long flowing robe with patches, some of which are missing.

And he turns towards one of the kitchen staff and says, Ah, that's three silver, because I hit it in the eye. It's not fair. What do you mean not fair? You made the bet. You said the eye. Pick another place. Pick anything.

Up there, he points, there's a balcony with a flower pot, just barely balanced on the edge of a railing, maybe 60 meters away. Oh, you want to. me to hit that flower pot. Double or nothing. 60 whole meters away. Red light turns around and like makes a face, I don't know if I can do it.

He turns and aims the arrow directly at the pot and then aims it much higher and lets the arrow loose. And it totally misses. Everyone bursts into like roars of applause and anger. Obviously other people were. or placing bets on whether or not you would be achieving this target. All right. Pay up you.

I guess I did. I guess I did. Oh, wait a minute. And red gestures up to the top. As you see the arrow coming back down from the trajectory that he shot it on. It's like bottom of the parabola. And it hits right through the base of the flower pot pinning it. But like dirt falls down the side just littering down to the alley.

And then the whole thing just topples over and smashes. Guess I didn't miss after all. Pay up, dummy. The inner door to the back salon is kicked open, and a shaft of dying light illuminates the mahogany-colored fur of a female tobacco. She clearly resembles red in a familial way, but with the intelligent, swiveling ears and a lashing tail, and a pink scar still freshly lanced on her cheek and jaw.

She's wearing a light blue tunic tucked into leather riding pants, with a strong bow and quiver on her back, a long belt-night sheathed at her waist and several heavy-looking books tied in a bundle in her arms. I was able to find most of the ones on the list, except the topography of southern Feroon, the extended travel journals of Bisyphiz, the well-heeled and bird's-eyed view,

the guide to the gray peaks, which is apparently an extremely rare volume. Oh, you found the books! Oh, my gosh, Dorn. What are you doing to that chain? Well, I was just trying to, uh, balance it out by... Where's dad? What do you say we just remove the legs altogether and we could use it as a cutting board?

Door walks out in like, this like stubby cutting board thing. Mm-hmm. This table with two-inch legs. She looks over at Jack as Red comes in through the door. Hey! Oh, you missed it, B. Remember yesterday when we pulled that old hustle, you coming in and doing the things? thing, like you didn't know what you were talking about, and then we made double the money.

I made half as much without you. Where were you? I'm sorry. Jack had me running all over town doing... What? See, Deadstone Clef on page 53. It's right here. She's an adventurer of her own merit. Stop giving her duties like she works for you. Did he at least pay you this time? He didn't, but I appreciate that I'm contributing, you know? I said that I wanted to come and be an adventurer. Be an adventurer isn't doing Jack's bidding. That's our job. You should be having more fun.

An apron hostess enters and gets Toren's attention Excuse me, sir, there's someone to see you A woman named Mari I've sat her at the bar and left her with a drink Shall I ask her to wait Marry? Did you say Marry? Yes, sir Like, Jack

Yeah How are you doing? Wait, you said Mari! Oh Alex, who do we see sitting at the bar? There is a tall water Janassi, just sitting at the bar. She's got a small drink in front of her, and she's just kind of swishing it around, just kind of waiting for someone to come in. She knows she's looking for somebody, but she's not sure who he is. She's

blue-skinned with dark gray hair, wearing a long, mid-thigh, like, leather coat that's open and tall leather boots. And everything's got like a little bit of floral embroidery on it. And she's just sitting there waiting and there's a little thing of unopened flowers in a vase and she's just kind of fussing with them causing them to open. Oh, that's cool. Every time she sort of pick ones up, the flowers

bloom and she just puts them back. I love Druid Craft. I wanted it real life. We'll be good. And Red bursts out from the back door and he says, Marie! And he runs over and he like hugged you off the top school. She just grips the side of the bar and just braces

herself and just goes, oh my God. Hi. Ben, hi. I didn't think I'd see you again or this soon. No, I ended up coming back directly after you and I talked pretty much. I'm shocked you beat me here. Yeah, well, we have teleportation things that Jack does. Mari just takes a little notebook out and writes teleportation, get it.

Yeah. Oh, well, let me introduce you. This is my best friend, Doran, and my best friend, Jack, and Jack and Doran, this is my new best friend, Marie. Hi. Wow. Hi. Very nice to meet you. I have heard about you.

Have you? I have. Dorn like approaches and behind him he's dragging like two halves of this table. It's now like in more pieces than it should be. And he just like drops them at his backside. Very nice to meet you. One of those projects that just creeps over your entire house until your whole house is the project and there is no. And Doreen approaches and extends that big hand up from, you know, from up from down where I am.

Up from his little downness. Mari's like 5'10, so she's got some light on her. She's got a strong grip, so it's a good handshake. Wow, that's quite a good handshake for, hmm, what are you? A water person? That's what I said. Doren. Close enough.

You look awfully wet. I look less wet than I did before because I'm less nervous. Oh. It's true. When I met her, she was so wet, and we got kidnapped by Zokin. Can I tell you any of this? I don't remember the story about Zalkin. Don't tell him you saw Zorkin.

Yeah, it doesn't matter. Marri, I'm so glad you're here. This is Waterdeep. Well, this is a bar, but this place is Waterdeep. This whole city. I can't wait to show you around and get you familiar with all these people. Yeah, yeah, that would be great. I just, I kind of, I think I lost some time.

I got a little bit lost in the way here, but now I'm here. And yeah, I mean, you mentioned there was someone who could help me kind of get started on or get further on my journey. and what I'm trying to figure out? Oh, shit, yeah, that's this guy, Jack. And I pointed Jack's face like an inch from it. This is Jack. Maori had some questions about gods and stuff like that, but... Oh, gods.

Hmm, interesting. Torin is like, would you, do you guys want a booth or something? What? Yeah. Oh, yes. And a round of bruise. Just make it, one, two, three, four. Okay, six bruise.

Six bruise. He's paying for it with his labor. I'll send someone right over. As they head over, I just go over to the table because I also have mending as a cantrip and I just sort of fix the table very quietly and just head over to the bar. That's going to be so useful

to the amount of things Doran tries to fix. Oh, man. Our bills are going way down. The clock wasn't cuckooing. It's not a cuckoo clock, Doran. Yeah, well, I put one in there. Dying bird. I just hold it up and I go, is this a cutting board?

Nice. It was. Yeah, so the four of you go over to a booth in the corner. Maybe B joins you and then a round of drinks arrives. Marie, this is my daughter B. Nice to meet you. Hi, nice to meet you too. I feel like, and she's just looking around and she's just kind of recounting what Red told her and doing like a mental note and trying to count all the people. She's kind of aware that like something's a little off. And Red sees this. Yeah, we're down. A friend of ours. Kraloth. He passed away, sadly, but...

B reaches over and she puts a hand on your hand, right? Oh, it's okay, you know? It was a natural part of life. And honestly, he went on his own terms, which is about the best anyway, anyone can go. Cheers, cheers, everybody. Cheers. Welcome to the copper cop, Marie.

Is it Mari or Murray? Mari. Mari, okay. Murray? Okay. Murray. I'll remember that for sure. To those we've made. and to those we've lost.

Here. Cheers. So, Mari, thank you for saving Red. That seemed, first of all. Oh, yeah, thanks. Huge. We didn't miss him. You're the one that saved Red.

Oh, it's all coming together. My reputation precedes me. Yeah, remember I said, a water person saved me. Right, right. I didn't realize I was Mary here. Mari. Mari. Right, right.

Okay, thank you. So many syllables. Longer than usual that he forgot that one, so. That's a compliment, really. So what brings you to the Cop a Cup, Mari? I've been on the road for a while. I have some questions I'm trying to figure out, but I'm mostly just trying to figure out if the gods are real.

And if they are, I think I need some questions answered that only they can answer. Because I am also trying to figure some things out after some loss. Hey. Well, I, um... Sounds like we kind of have a similar thing going on.

Yeah. Um, you know, um, I'm gonna let Jack jump in here because I'm just, I'm gonna stop talking because I tend to do this and I'm still learning, so... Shut up, Dorn. Go ahead, Jack. Well, I mean, it's a big question, right? Um, I guess it kind of depends on, on what you mean by the gods and what you mean by real and what kind of questions you have.

I mean, I have so many questions, but I think the main one I need to know is, are we just pawns in this? Are we just figures bouncing around a table, or do they care? Because I was always taught that they would care and that they would listen. And after what happened, I don't think they do. And now I need to go ask them. Oh, heavy shit. Sorry, I realize I'm like turning into a bummer. No, no.

And I mean, echoing what Jack said, you know, to play devil to egg advocate, I don't believe in gods and I don't really think, you know, there's anything out there. Well, I mean, demonstrably, there are very powerful beings out there who we call gods, who are large and worshipped and grant their followers many fabulous powers and things. On some level, they're kind of just like us, but more. Gods, they're just like us. But more. Join the gods program.

Doran finishes his third large tankard of ale and he sets it down in front of him. And then he kind of ponderes to himself listening to the conversation and then pipes up. He says, you know, I don't think they are real. Not in the sense that we're talking about because we've met some very powerful beings. But, you know, I kind of agree with you. Mari. Thank you. Mari, that I've also experienced some pretty terrible things in my life.

And, I mean, I don't think a God watching over my back would have allowed those to happen. I mean, that's just my opinion. So, I mean, heck, we're kind of roaming around the countryside. We have to, we have some things we have to take care of. You're welcome to join us. Hey, that's not a bad idea. We're down a man anyway. Mari, if you're looking for a little bit of a purpose right now,

especially while you're looking to answer these questions, which obviously are big and, you know, fruitless, then you might as well join us on our quest because, frankly, you're damn powerful. You should have seen the orb-sized orb that she threw into the forest. Standard size. I think through this while these guys have all been sort of like talking existentially and sort of trying to figure out

this broad question and it has been asked and they're trying to mull it over uh marie's just been sort of sitting there and she's been sort of holding her ale and it's all sort of sweating down her hand and then she just chugs

the whole thing in one go just throws the whole thing back like a frat boy you said your friend got to go on his own terms the reason I'm out here is that my friends didn't And they drowned, and I wasn't there to help them.

And I was always told that the waters were kind, and that the waters gave, and that the waters were home. And now they aren't anymore. And I don't know what to do with that. Hmm. I have been told forever that the love of Eldath was something strong and pure and caring, but I don't know what that is anymore. And I don't even really know who I am anymore sometimes. So I think that I can come with. I am not a fighter, but I have been on the road for so long, and I have been alone for months.

And a change would be nice because I haven't had anything answered yet. And maybe this will get me a bit closer. Oh, well, you're not alone anymore, Mari. You might put a hand across the table and grabs your shoulder. She's joining us. That's it, final said. I don't know if we can help you find answers, Mari, but we're happy to keep you company while you look at least.

I don't expect anyone to give me answers, but it would be nice to have some friends again. I thought Jack would, admittedly. I think he tried. Nah, he didn't. It's okay. Even Jack don't know everything, and red tussles your hair.

Thanks. If you're trying to meet gods, then I think. I think we're the right people to be with. Doran's looking around the table. I mean, after all, we've faced dragons and giants, and we're not done yet. Yeah, to put a little context on what he's saying, we all met when we headed up north to Nightstone,

which is now called Donglo, but that's irrelevant. On our way to a place called Goldenfields, we were picked up by a cloud giant castle. It was floating on a cloud, and basically, this cloud giant named Zephyro said that he had been speaking with the outer planer entities and that we were tasked with basically reordering something called the ordaining,

which is the caste system of all of the giants that exist. The part that you might find interesting is it that was the great giant god Anam who shattered the ordaining and through all of these giants wrecked their whole world threw it into disarray and... Yeah, yeah. According to Zephyros...

We haven't actually heard from Arnhem. We only heard secondhand that it was... That's right. But if we do this and we get to meet Adam, then he might be buddies with whoever your god is. Hey, that's true. There is a giant god that we're supposed to get to talk to at some point. What's the name of your god, Mariah? Mari. Oh, right. Sorry. Mari. Yes. Mari, you idiot. I'll remember. El Dath. Okay. But yeah, after that, we've basically been cruising around Fyroon trying to find our way.

and just before you arrived we found out the location of all of the giant's strongholds other than the one that we've already completed, which is the hill giants, and from what we've heard, each of them holds one of these, and Red reaches into his bag of holding

and pulls out a magic conch. These conches, when blown, will bring us to the court of the storm giants. And there, we are hopefully going to do something. We don't really know. But anyway, we're looking for, those right now.

The long and short of it is that we could use your help. B has already agreed to join us, and she is hella talented, but we have like five places in this world that we need to head to, defeat the giants there, and take one conch from each of these locations, and red waves his hand, and a really shitty version of a map of Féroon just pops up on the table.

It's like drawn in crayon. So wait, where are you going? In our infinite wisdom, and Jack points to a spot in there, and a very nice picture of Loudwater pops up on Red's map a little bit less crudely. We're going to start in the middle of winter at Loudwater and march all the way up into these mountains here, the Grey Peaks. And as Jack's talking, my shitty map is just floating up through his again. Like nudging up a little higher.

And try and find a place called Deadstone Cleft, where the stone giant Thane is. And it's a tricky hike in the middle of summer, so I hear, but we've got a local, right, Doren? Well, yeah, but I mean, I've only ever really heard of it. We weren't allowed to go there.

It was a very dangerous spot, even for the most experienced of adventuring dwarves. You see, Deadstone cleft. Just listen to the name of it. Deadstone cleft. I mean, what the hell? You might as well call it Dan's Peak, damn it. So basically, the stone giant,

and there are hill, stone, cloud, storm, frost, and fire giants. So there are six giants. We've defeated the hill giants, and that means there's only five left. Yeah, I mean, your favorite enemy is giants. Did you want to lay a little bit of, like, Dietzdale? Let me lay a little detail down on these giant bad boys. Drop some block, rock, and beats. So the hill giant are here, and they're here to stay, and then got it.

Marys were wearing another beer. just like, I think I'm going to need another one. Yeah, we do that to people. Like the stone giants, they can meld with stone. They can go right through the ground. The cloud giants obviously live in a cloud, and their castle actually moves around a little bit. The fire giants are very, very tough.

And we actually encountered one, and they were looking for a piece of a giant robot or something. I don't know about that. And the ice giants, well, we met one of him, and he was nice, but he's dead now. No. Yeah. At the hands of a dragon

And they were like kind of Vikingy people It's been a rough week Now it hasn't There's a lot of death You know, just a heads up There's a lot of death You know But not with us party

Not with that we got Mari If you're tuning into season two Before Warren It's a lot of death You have a Vivify right Tell me you have the Rivify Mari just sort of squeezes her hair Into a empty cup

It just fills up Red drinks it Oh I didn't realize that was your hair Is that like sweat or? What's the analog there? Salty? No, I think it's just water, but as to where it's coming from, I can't tell you. That was delicious.

She's freshwater. Okay, so she's a fresh water. Freshwater, Janazzi. So we can survive off your hair if we needed to. It's isotonic water, so it's like 0.9% salt. It's kind of like lake water, like when you're in the lake and you just like taking a big mouth full and you're like, oh. And then you just like spit out a piece of fish. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Love it. Torin swings by the table and he's like, did you? you guys want something to um to eat or um yeah well i mean bring out some secouterie sure and how about a leg of lamb and some potatoes charcutory for the table and lamb and potatoes for you doran yes and three more pints of ale for the usual i guess is what we're settling on huh as torren is taking your order a harried looking man enters the copper cup he's a human with pale skin and blonde hair, gray worried eyes, and a scarf just kind of draped over his neck absent mindedly.

He casts a glance over the entire place, taking it all in before moving from table to table speaking to each patron in turn. So Doran, like, under, as he's drinking a beer, he holds the empty mug up to his face. He's like, if he wants money, just tell him you're poor. I don't think it's that kind of place, Dorian. Anyway, so yeah, that's basically the skinny. And honestly, I'm really glad to have you on team. So, I mean, we just need to decide when we want to roll out of here

and basically start this next leg of an adventure. I was hoping we could celebrate midwinter in a day or two here and then leave, you know, afterwards. It's sort of tradition to start a new thing on midwinter. That's kind of the, you know, whole deal of the holiday. And then I could stay for the holidays. And you know what, Doran anyway, I want to give. get you a magic tattoo because let's not forget, there's also some assassins after door

that we want to get you disguised. Mari's drinking another beer and she goes, do you want to see something cool? And then she uses Druidcraft again to be like, tomorrow it's going to be clear out. Because you can use it to predict weather. Oh, nice. A little glowing ore. You control the weather? Oh, finally.

No, I don't control. Well, but sun rays will be at 605. Oh, I don't know. This pale man comes over to the table and he, He's like... We're poor. Sorry. As we're glowing with magic. Have you seen a man recently with a silver hair, very handsome?

There's like some tears shining in his eyes. Torin comes back over to the table. He's like, Oslid, I'm sorry, I told you. We would keep an eye out for him. You're unnerving my patrons. You can't keep. coming back in here. So you're not looking for money. Who's he talking about? Remy, Arbor, he's my boyfriend. Remy wouldn't just disappear without telling me. And someone told me that they'd seen him

here just a few days ago, and I don't have any fresher leads. Please, last time I saw him dressed sharply in his mid-60s. Where did you last see him? The last time I saw him, we were in a restaurant together, but this was almost a week ago. And someone told you they saw him here? That's right. Have you seen him? No. No.

I think we're all kind of feeling a bit the same. It's kind of awkward that you watch right up to our table. We're all thinking the same thing. You just kind of came right up to us. We're in the middle of eating our chakouterie. I'm sorry, you guys just have like some cool weapons and stuff. It looks like you could probably be like adventurers and like ready to help a guy. out.

We've got to wait around a few days anyway. Wasn't too long ago, this was a bit of a rougher neighborhood, and hopefully the clientele that copper cup is drawing is turning things around, but maybe we can do our part a little bit while we're here. Remy lives just a few blocks away, just close to the water. It's kind of a shady part of town, and I've been there a few times, but usually we hang out close to my house in the northward, and maybe if you could go and ask around for me,

you might have a little bit more luck. Part of me almost wants to just do an inside check because I'm just like a little. Do it. Roll it. 23. Whoa. Nice.

I know what I'm good at. Wisdom in a tall blue package. It's inside and not anything that involves me doing a strength check. Welcome to the club. Join the team. Based on his red, rhymed eyes. It's clear this man has spent some time crying recently. You would ascertain that his story is correct so far. All right. At least from his perspective. It sounds like an

adventure. We're in. When they saw him here last, what was he doing? Good question. Looking for a ride out of town. He was talking about how much he wanted to leave. Never return. I really hate my boyfriend. I should dump him. Which I was stalking him and he was talking about how he could enforce his restraining order. He was having dinner with some people that I didn't recognize the description

of. We'll help you. What's his address? Gives it to you. No way. One, two, three fictional avenue. I was just going to say one, two, three Fish Street. Ah, I love the fish street. That's down by the grocery store. Down by

barrel. It's down by the bay. You know, where the watermelons grow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Weirdly enough, the driest part of town. Yeah, what the hell? Let's do it. We'll find your friend, all's good. Why don't you hang out here, get yourself a beer on us,

and I guess you can eat our chakouterie. I slip a sausage in my pocket so I can eat it later. Red gives two big thumbs up and then gestures to grab one for me too. Yeah, I grab another. I go and give Torin a quick hug and a kiss and just say, look, we'll take Dora and out of your hair for a while. Thank you. I understand it's getting a little rowdy.

Yeah, they're the worst. Red says really close to Toran all of a sudden. Dora, don't worry, we'll get rid of him. His breath smells like fish. He's like, ah, all right, bye, Toran, talk to you soon. You keep that leg of lamb nice and warm by the fire. And as he points down to the fire, he sees the table. That's now perfectly fixed and back in order.

He's like, and don't... Hey, wait a minute. I did a great job at fixing that table. Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Alexander Ruku, Lost with Two Faces, Matilda Rushing, Lida, Chelsea Chong, K.K.R. Sky. Creature. Regan, Michelle Con, Heather Nichols, Alexander Reed, Melanie Sheen, Artistic Witch, Brian Blas, Lars, Gray, Bryn, Daniel, Tara, Doug, Marikanniski, Merlin, Christopher Ryan Evans, Mitchell Cadwell, Colin Burkart, and Michael and Brianna Weber. Thank you so much.

Woo! There are six big giants and are here to stay. Better watch your back, because they're here to slay. The hill giants are too troublesome yet, though they smell real bad, they're not much of a threat. The stone giants are, the next on our list, they can meldrew rock, and they're usually pissed. Fire is hot, and so is this lot. They have bad temper, so you don't want to get caught. Prossy giants are a real cool group. They enjoy ice fishing and fish head soup. The cloud giants float on castles up in the sky. If you meet our friends Zephi tell them, we all say hi. The stone giants, we don't even know how they look, but we know that they're

baddest because the name of the book. I hope you like the song and the show Die Shame, because season two is better, yet still more of the same. See you soon. Nice. Another.