Dice Shame - 2-124 | 'Live in the Past'

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

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: animal death, swearing, violence, claustrophobiaPart of the Rusty Quill Network Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm gonna go get more bread. Isn't this a small world? Truthfully, I don't know what happened in Don Glow. You could add a water god in there as well. I love Jack, too. I'd like just to all raise a glass. Dramatic time for a lot of us. Transmutation fats.

The adventure with people all the time. We are not enemies at this table. Oh, oh, oh, yeah. Let that come in an appropriate time. You can't imagine the stains I've had on this shirt. Let me regale you. 20 guards, so many guards. Maybe my biggest failure was just not giving it

And honest try. Welcome back to Dice Shame. This is Season 2, Episode 124, Live in the Past. MVP this week is Evan Gibson, who recommended us on Twitter. Thanks. And I will be forever calling it Twitter. They recommended us along with Dungeons and Daddies and a bunch of other wonderful shows. Thanks so much, Evan.

you're this week's MVP. All right. Should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Woo! As the smells of dinner rise out of the kitchen and the kids begin to congregate in the dining room, dinner is served.

It is a very simple. meal. It's clear that there's not as much to go around as maybe people would like. Not that anyone is starving, but none of this food is luxurious. There are bowls of roasted potatoes and carrots. There are some fowl that have been cooked. There is some bread. And there are a couple of extra tables in the dining room to accommodate all of the bodies and mouths who are hungry. Scoping out the kitchen as this is all coming together, is it more the vibe that like there just aren't enough people to put together a nice meal for this many people? Or is it we don't have the money to buy a nicer thing kind of vibe? Yeah. I mean, it might be a combination of the two.

It seems to be mostly Oren and Thalas who are working together. Thalas, if you recall, used to be the servant to the family who lived here before you killed them all. Whoa, whoa, whoa, we didn't kill them all. You liberated. Crayloth killed the lady. He did. And that wasn't even here. That was...

That's right. That's why we killed him off the show. That sweet old demon lady. So Thalus is still here. He's like 16 as well. And then Orin, obviously. So the two of them are cooking the meal for about 15, 18 people, plus the five of you. so 23 folks for dinner.

It's a lot of work. I would like to suggest that to you, maybe Joe, that like throughout this very standard meal that they're having, that they kind of always eat the same sort of thing. There's like these pieces from our bag of holdings that are like... So much jerky.

So many apples. There's like a bowl of jerky on the table. Stuck in the mashed potatoes. Chicken legs. I agree with that, but I don't think you guys showed up early enough to be like, oh, dinner, do you eat? Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That's fair.

Tomorrow for sure. We maybe did, but certainly didn't offer help. Yes. You know, as a side note, it's so interesting to think that they want for this in a world of magic. You know, when create food and water is a spell, it's so interesting to think. And I think that's kind of where maybe Rob was getting at by like, is it just not enough people to prepare it or are they in need of food? There's too many calories in the fast food.

Like, it doesn't want to eat it. We could do it, but we just don't want to eat unhealthy. Again? My manas hit the top, okay? Wait, hold on. Manna is refilled by fast food? Is there like an Uber Eats joke? I'm just saying, like, magically created food.

That'd be kind of funny. Maybe there's like, if magically created food has like an unhealthy component. It's like really high in trans fats. That's very interesting, actually. It's like really high in like sodium. That's why I really appreciated the food. fast food pun, honestly. That was the fast food.

Transmutation fats. That's what transdance were in this guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's the next, that's the new pun. Yeah, it's just interesting to think about. You know what I mean? As everyone gathers for dinner, the woman who was locked in her room having a nice bath late in the afternoon makes an appearance.

She's also a teetling woman. and as she seats herself at the table opposite you, Red, Doran, and Jack, you recognize her. Hey, we know you. You know her from a town that was once known as Nightstone. You're from Nightstone. The Tiefling family that Jack freaking ousted. You were a Nightstone. You're the Tifling family that.

That, oh, shit. It's called Dawnglow now. Yeah, right. And Red, like, awkwardly, like, leans back to let Jack lean forward. I'm going to go get more bread, and Red stands up and goes to the kitchen. It's so interesting that, um, that you're here. Good to see you. Uh...

Is it? I... I'm not sure. I... Truthfully, I don't know what happened in Dawn. on glow. I'm a little surprised. It certainly wasn't what I expected, but, uh, I don't really want to cause a big scene over dinner. Uh, the children really look forward to the evening meal, so, oh, uh, sorry, excuse me. And one of the orc sisters of B's party stands up and calls for

everyone to be silent. The evening prayer. And then she opens her eyes and makes sure that all of the orphans have their eyes closed, and then she nods again. And she holds her hands together very solemnly at her chest. We thank the earth, mother, for this food. We thank the fire lord for the ovens that come to life and cook it for us. We praise the death-bringer that he has.

has prevented any of us from passing today. We praise the sun God for bringing the springtime and the storm demon for the spring rains. And then everyone kind of looks around a little bit awkwardly, not really sure if the prayer is done. And then the orc just nods and sits down. Red pokes his head out of the kitchen where he was fetching more bread.

I got more bread. I'll have to do it all over again. Sit down. What? Oh, sorry. That sits down awkwardly. She goes through the whole prayer again and then sits down. After each one, Red's like, metal, metal.

Is it associated with any particular religion that Jack is familiar with? Why don't you roll a religion check for me? 78. 26. You know some of these to be associated with a pantheistic culture. of the ancients religion. You haven't read any books exclusively

devoted to this concept but you do know that some neutral or good aligned orcs tend to find meaning in these deities. Wonderful. Madel. Yeah. Murray comes in and she's like been

in, like, she's been in the kitchen fussing around and it comes in. She's like and sits down. Now it's just to do it again. What are you doing, Marys? No, she's just locks in. She sits down beside the. The orcs. stands up and she's like, is this everyone. Jesus Christ. It's fine. You could add a water god in there as well and she

sits down next to the teafling woman and goes, wow. Things seem tense here. Hi, I'm Mari. It seems like you guys have a past. Would you like some salt? I've made like a little like a mushroom salt. I've been preserving them in there for flavor.

Sounds divine. Thank you. She says, icily, and takes the salt for you, just sprinkles a little bit on some of the potatoes that she's served herself. MASH? No, red. No, would you like mash? Oh, yeah.

I would. So, how did you end up here? Perhaps you remember my son, Grin? She points down the table where he's laughing with Oren about some stupid joke. Doran smiles and tips his glass to Grin who he just made himself. acquainted with. Sort of a new friend. Grin catches your eye and raises the glass as well. The two of us, well, we were asked to leave our home in Nightstone. We were travelers for some time, and then when we made our way to Golden Fields, we saw an advertisement for help needed.

Here, the travel through Ballard was challenging in the winter snows, but we've been here for the past six, ten day or so, I believe. Mm-hmm. That's lovely. That's wonderful. I'm so glad you made it here. Just to be clear, I had nothing to do. Just me, with you being thrown. out of your home. That's all I'm going to say on it. But that wasn't me. Technically, I didn't either. Yeah. Or that guy. Red Point's at Doran. Yeah. Whim waves and she's like, gestures like, nope. Doran sort of looks down a little bit awkwardly and then kind of glances over at Jack who's sitting, I guess, next to him. He says, well, isn't this a small world?

A small, awkward world. Like you said, maybe dinner isn't the best time to discuss it if we think it's contentious, but it was traumatic time for a lot of us. I'm glad we got you out of that lair with the goblins and ogres and all of that, Hark's Cave with your life, because it was touch and go. I mean, lots of people didn't get out of Nightstone with their lives. My friends, it was, sorry, just a lot of loss. It was, yes.

And again, as everyone in the village said, we appreciated your help with the giants, with the goblins, et cetera. Very much obliged. It doesn't mean that you had any right to advocate for our being removed from our community. I am a worshipper of Asmodius, but I don't think that theology means that I'm a bad person. I never forced my beliefs on a single person, not my son, not my community, not these children. Well, I appreciate your forthrightness. I won't profess to know what your personal beliefs are. I will say that what I understand the beliefs of those who worship a being commonly called the Lord of Lies are, do take away from your credibility.

So I don't feel that way. I need to step in. I don't, sorry, I need to separate myself from that. Yeah, you've been through. I'm not lumping anyone in with anyone. You're not lumping. Nor am I saying what the Church of Lithander did was, was. Right. In any case, I won't say that I, I, or wrong, you know, they're, they're acted on

information. We gave them. We didn't give them anything again, to be clear, he gave information. She turns towards you, Mari, and says, have you ever been friends with someone whose religious beliefs you did not agree with? I have in the past. I've definitely had those moments where, the things that I believe have started to clash with others and I have been traveling with this lot and you know there's a there's a differing belief system but even I've had to come to terms of the few of the things that I believe personally but I have gotten to know Jack and she gestures to him she goes he's not a man who does things without thinking and while this Sounds like it caused some problems, and I am sorry that this caused you harm.

I can't see him ever acting with malice. Perhaps you don't know your friend very well. Excuse me. And she picks up her plate to leave. Oh, no, please sit. I can leave. It's fine. I'll...

And then Doran pipes up and says, sit down, Jack. No, it's okay. And then he stands up on his chair and he lifts his goblet. And he looks at the Teafling woman and he says, What you believe is no concern of mine. To me, how you act and what you do is what determines the person you are. I'd like us to all raise a glass and toast while we sit at this table. To old friends and new, to strangers and family,

let us put our past behind us and look forward to what is yet to come and how we may all affect the future for the better. through mistakes we may have made in the past. Please, we are not enemies at this table. Oren stands up and gives you a rousing round of applause. She nods and smiles at you, Doren, and says, thank you, Doren. And she walks out of the dining room with her plate and her cup, and she disappears somewhere. Well, it didn't work, Jack.

Jack also stands up and pats Doren on the shoulder and says, You know, all of that, a lovely prayer to Lethander, I think, in there, but I'm not hungry. Maybe I'll make that one tomorrow morning, and leave sort of the opposite way that destiny had... Red sits back. Maybe did I drink too much? No, your heart was in the right place. I just... How you act and what you do determines the person you are.

You just said it in your toast store, and he claims it's part of Lathander's prayer, and here he is unable to give this woman an inch just because... She's... Red turns to Marriot. Why'd you vouch for Jack? Let the woman have her anger. Jeez, it's totally justified. I didn't think he was right either when he did it.

And I told him so much. What? He's... A month ago or something. I mean, yeah, the... I don't know exactly what went down. It sounds tenuous at best, but... Tenuous.

The guy literally found this symbol of Asmodius, and he wrote to the church, and they kicked him out of the town. Could you imagine? It's horrible. Look, he's held me to the cross many times about accounting for my mistakes, and sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, but he doesn't give me an inch. The guy never says sorry about anything. All he had to do was look at her and say, I fucked up, but he couldn't. I mean, it's tough when it also ties into your belief system.

Well, that's why beliefs are real weird. Says Red, who... Has it very categorically lined... Doesn't believe in any God, an afterlife, or magic. Look, all I'm saying is even if he didn't believe it in this moment, It could have been easy for him to give her a little bit. She lost everything. He hasn't lost it, you know?

He wasn't kicked out of his home because of his beliefs. No, he was kicked out of his home because his boyfriend broke up with him. Okay. Is that what? He, if she wrote a letter to Torin telling it, no, what do you talk? Look, I love Jack too, okay, and I understand that. But this, call it circumstance, the fact that she's here is obviously forcing Jack to confront something, and I don't think it would hurt him, frankly,

to see a little bit of the reflection in her eyes when she says that his actions hurt her. I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing either. I just think that maybe it's probably, first of all, not the best to be doing this over dinner surrounded by children eating potatoes that they now have to, like, stretch

because there's five extra mouths here. So let that come at an appropriate time. Her anger seemed pretty appropriate to me. stands up and grabs his own plate. I'll go with another direction. And he leaves as well. How many more cardinal directions are there? One.

Who else wants to storm off? Wim picks up her plate. She looks around. She just sits on the floor. You know what? You're right. There's very little food here. I think I'll drink my dinner.

Nice. Wanted to do it this way anyway. Nice. All right. Jack, where do you go? I think he's true to his word going outside for a walk, maybe over to the stables to see if he can find gem flower, amicere, or any of the other horses from Amphail. Yeah, it's a cold night, but those clouds have passed by, and the twinkling of the stars overhead is calming. And as you head over to the stablehouse, you hear horse sounds, your horses that you brought here, meeting with the horses that you left here last time.

This is going to be a real horsey house soon. But yeah, you make your way to the stables. Good to see they're keeping you well. Jack just sort of starts talking to the horses out loud. They're actually really well-capped. Like, the stables look a lot nicer than they did when you were here last. The horses are well brushed. They each have, like, custom blankets that they are wearing to stay warm.

There's fresh, sweet-smelling hay in all of the stalls. It seems like they're being excellently cared for. I'm glad somebody here has a good handle on this. Knows what they're doing. Maybe found a place in the world where they're. I feel like they're doing good. And I think Jack, you know, not having his own dinner looks around for maybe a little bit of extra oats or something. He might sneak the horses just to...

You're going to steal horse food? No, not for himself. To like, to give the horses a treat. That's why the blankets are there. It's disguising the ribs that you can see to their sides. Yeah, they're well kept but starving. They're keeping the horses go because they can eat them. Yeah, there's like a little box of.

Carrots that you gather the orphans like to feed the horses when they've been extra real good. Remembering now he must have inside his portable hole at least one bushel of apples that he could not leave. They're all going to forget. They ate them.

Oh my gosh, you're going to feed the apples to the horses? These apples are no longer. These are still magical apples that make you forget a week afterwards. Who knows what they'll do to horses? They haven't been tested on animals. Well, uh... Yeah, they're mundane apples. You just have them.

Jack lays out his portable hole on the ground, his every belonging in the world and finds the basket of apples that he has from a few towns back and treats each horse in here to a fresh, lovely, sweet apple from the road and just watches them eat it and enjoy it.

A very simple pleasure of watching an animal enjoy a treat. Tries not to think about too much else. You're alone for a little while. and then you hear footsteps outside, crunching on the icy snow. Hello? Uh, hey. Can I come in?

You're stable. We're just guests here. Uh, no, I'm a guest, too. And, uh, the door opens to reveal another half elf. Hey. Hey. Hey, sir. Uh, name's Jack.

I'm Tito. Nice to meet you, Tito. I didn't see at dinner. Ah, I was late. Oh, well, and you don't want to interrupt that prayer. I can, I got the sense. Listen, she really has a thing with it. You don't know the half of it.

I've been traveling around with Nolves for like, oh, the last six months probably. She goes heavy. I get that. If it brings her some measure of peace, you know, good honor. Maybe less so interrupting everybody else. else's dinner, but... Jack Page, right? That's me, yeah.

Bees told me, like, so much about you guys. Oh, yeah. Well, and you guys, if you're, you helped track down some of those books back in Waterdeep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You remember that, right? Yeah, that was great.

They were super helpful. They were very handy when we, we did make it to the Grey Peak Mountains. It's, it's a really neat tale. How? How long are you guys sticking around for? Uh, I don't know. Um, probably a couple of days at least.

I hope. Can I take a look at your spellbook? Oh. Oh, oh, oh, yeah. I'm sorry. There's like never a nice way to say that. No, 100%. I, yeah, let's, I'd love to get into some of it.

I don't know. I only just started mine. He like pulls out this very new volume and he sort of flips through. It's got like gold edges on the pages. Oh, very fancy. It's like the first 10 are filled, but the rest of it is, it's very aspirational. The spine hasn't even cracked yet. I know you probably like don't want to let it out of your site, but I figure if you're here and I'm here.

No, you know, there's a, you never, you can never miss an opportunity to learn something. Yeah, I'd love to, I'd love to, you know, walk you through how I've been, you know, trying to encode my spells in the least amount of work. See if you can piece out what's going there. That could be fun. whoa he does like an over my head gesture but that sounds awesome yeah maybe tomorrow though okay well yeah no for sure i wasn't thinking tonight you got horse stuff to do no no i understand well and yeah yeah just not in the right head space i guess but a totally mean either no no uh how have things been here not tense or anything until we showed up huh yeah it's been weird

I don't want to, you know what, I don't want to talk about. Well, no, I mean, are you just talking about Oren and B, or other stuff, too? Mm-hmm. Because I imagine breakups are weird, and I... Wouldn't know too much about that. Oh, sorry. Eventually, I'm sure. I mean, you find somebody you connect for sure.

You know, shared interest, all that good stuff. Yeah. I mean, life of an adventure is like, no time for that stuff. So, yeah, maybe I'll settle down later. Well, I mean, I think, I guess that's, be adventurous with your heart too, maybe. That's part of it. Cool. Yeah.

All right, I'm going to go inside. It's really cold. Sure, yeah. Nice to meet you. Good, lovely to meet you, yeah. And he, like, reaches a hand out, and it's, like, not clear whether he's going for, like, a fist bump or a high five, and he kind of, like, muddles through some sort of active physical. Yeah, Jack.

I'm meeting you. Jack marines in that moment enough and and like turns it into like a proper handshake. Like let's let's that awkwardness. Doesn't mention it, but let's him figure out this is, it's okay. This can be a handshake and like gives him a. He goes for it. His sleeve is like wet. Jack waves his hand and Presta digitates the sleeve dry.

You had a little wet there. God, that's embarrassing. No, it happens to the best of us. Prestidistation's a wizard's best friend, man. You can't imagine the stains I've. had on this shirt to only turn around and it's a it's the it's what you know you know cool he goes inside red you've stormed off where did you go dad red walks back upstairs to the nook he used to call his bedroom and he opens the door to it a spiral staircase that leads up to the tower is it still pillow filled

and comfortable. It's moderately pillow-filled. It seems like over the days that you've been gone, the days and the weeks, that people in need of comfort have come here and either enjoyed themselves or taken pillows and gone elsewhere. Exactly what I wanted this room to be for people. And Red walks in and sits down cross-legged and eats his dinner angrily on his lap. You eat for a few minutes. Gnom, yum. And then a quiet tap at the door. What is it?

Dad? Oh, hey. Sorry. Red puts down the plate, which is now emptying, stands up. Sorry, I was just angry. Oh, I only heard a bit of it. Oh, it's nothing. It's just some old stuff from the past, and, you know, Jack.

You adventure with people all the time, and, you know, you love them, and you rely on them, and they also annoy you to no end, and, you know, I don't know, the woman down there, she works here now, the Tiefling. Destiny? Yeah, that's the one. Yeah. Was she nice? I think so.

I've only had a few conversations with her, but she's really good with the kids. Yeah. I don't know. I guess I just, I don't have many lines. I really don't. You know that. But, you know, seeing someone judged for what they believe in in their heart, I always feel so gross to me.

It's part of the reason why I hate all these, you know, these deities, these powerful gods, these things. They all just fight their little wars, and they use us. I'm getting distracted. It doesn't matter. Look, what did you want to talk about? It's just, it's funny. She sort of laughs.

I remember the first time that I saw you on this continent, you were doing the same exact thing. Yeah? What's that? You and Jack were chasing each other's tails around in circles. You were in Ballard. You told me that you had been on the roof of some inn, in the middle of the night, just fighting, and that Doran wouldn't let you back inside again until you'd made up.

I remember that, I remember that. I don't remember what we were fighting about, but I do remember not being let back inside. and I suppose these things tend to repeat themselves. I think it's good. Yeah? You keep each other on your toes. Don't take this the wrong way, Dad, but you're very much a certain kind of person.

And so is he, and I think that balance is really important. Yeah, you're probably right. You always was smarter than me anyway. And Red sort of grabs her by the shoulder and goes to embrace her. She goes in for a hug as well, and before she lets go, she says, so who's Wim really? Yeah, well, whim was somebody we found in a cage in a dragon's den, just outside of Kralath's final resting place, and, you know, she seemed pretty joyful for somebody who's on a timeline. I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but I guess it is like you to pick up strangers. I, uh, I'm sorry. I, I think I, I know what you're feeling. I, maybe, uh, I'm not feeling anything.

Red sits down on the steps. I did a bad job. I did a bad job and I continue to do a bad job about many different things. I know that you came here to this continent To be with me To adventure with me To be a part of my life Yes, Dad, but that was just Me being a little girl Wanting her parents

And now that I'm grown up And I recognize what I'm good at And I don't need you anymore Maybe, but it doesn't change the fact that I failed you and I I can't imagine how it would feel now with me toting along another person who maybe to you feels like they took your place

and I recognize that pain and I'm sorry about it and I want to make it right look the truth of the matter is Wim is a strange girl and to a degree

as horrible as this to say I saw her a lot like you, but one that I was less connected to. Don't let Jack hear that. But the truth of the matter is, there is a part of me that regrets not being brave enough to adventure with you. There's a part of me that wishes I just put my own feelings aside and let you adventure with me the way that you wanted. And maybe, in a weird way, I'm living that out with whim.

And then she told us, Jack and I, that she has a shortened life. She's only going to live two more years. That's terrible. I know. We haven't had enough time really to dive into it. Something I want to talk to or what we'll hear about and find a solution or something. But then the whole thing got so much more serious. And I realized that she was probably traveling with us more to sow who wild oats

and to, well, be how whim is, a little bit like a whim. But this is about you, and I'm sorry. How can I make it right? I don't know, Dad. I didn't know you growing up. It was just me and mum. And I think, I hoped that you were going to be someone who you will never be. that's why I came all the way here

and I'm sorry that's not fair to you you never wanted to be a dad really that's it's not your fault I mean I'm starting to like it

I think as weird as it sounds this relationship I have with whim is a bit like a test run you know where I don't need to pull you away from everything you're doing, a bit of getting to see what it feels like to be a dad without breaking your heart again.

Well, when you're ready for me to be in your life... No, no, no, that's not what I mean. What I mean to say is it fell on my lap, and I'm realizing now, as true as what you're saying, is that I'm not cut out to be that person, that maybe my biggest failure was just not giving it an honest try. But I fell on your lap too.

It's not fair. It's not fair that you chose her, not me? No, it's not. I don't want to choose her, and not you. I don't want it to be a choice at all. I want it to feel like it makes sense, but maybe part of me, I'm just not smart enough to figure it out. I know, I know that I'm hurting you.

And I wish I had the ability. to figure out a way to fix that. But I'm not really that bright. And I don't say that in the mean way, the meaning way, it's true. I don't really know how to get to the place that you want me, and I want to be there too. Help me. I just do things. I know, Dad.

I can't. parent for you though. Do you want me to leave her here and take you? Do you want to take both of you? Do you want to make a three-person adventuring party? Just the three of us. We can take on the giants. No.

I'll do it. Honestly. I think I just need to spend some more time away from you. As sad as that sounds. I love you. I think you're a hero. You're my hero, but I don't know if I see. see you as my father still and i wanted you to be i don't feel like a hero and red grabs her hands i

don't know how to fix myself to be what you need me to be but i'm going to try i am let me figure it out let me talk to people smarter than me and let me figure out how I can do that. Can you give me that time maybe? And one day maybe I can come to you having figured it out

and I can present it to you and we can be happy. Okay. Thanks. I made you this. Oh. She shows you a bracelet. Oh!

It's nothing fancy. Are you kidding? You made it. It's so fancy. And it puts it on immediately. I've got tons of stuff for you. Hold right there. He turns around and opens his bag of holding. Okay. Do you want a human skull? No. Back downstairs in the dining hall.

The orphans all fed, phallus clearing the dishes away dutifully. Mari, Doran, and Wim, what are the three of you up to? Doran and Mari are standing by the edge of the fireplace whispering to one another. And you see Doren say, all right, you ready? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do this. Let's go.

All right, all right. Let me regale you. And he turns around, and he throws his arms wide open, and he captures all the attention of all the children sitting at the table. Who here is excited to hear a tale of adventure, a tale of murder and lies? Yes, we have tales of monsters and magic, and she, like, moves her hand and, like, all these little flowers sort of appear just floating to the ground. There we were. On the edge of this deep, dark cavern in the city of Scarborough, we looked up at the walls. And how many guards did we see, Mari?

Ten, twenty guards, so many guards. There was more than you could ever imagine. Hundreds. But there was only just the four of us. And in the bellows of the mountain, just beyond the gates, were the fires of Clary on the dragon. There we were. Ready to take on the city. Just the four of us.

I'm scared. We find our way through the path and I turn into a bat. And she, wild-shaped, poof, into, like, the biggest bat she can form. Which is, like, maybe about the size of a fruit bat. So it looks like very, is it like the funny little fruit badge face? Yeah. It's like flapping around. It's like a big fluffy dog that's flying around.

The crowd goes wild. And I want to say there's this like montage where all of a sudden Doran's doing funny voices acting like, oh look, I'm the chancellor of the city, but I'm actually evil. Mari's like using her staff pretending to like use it like a sword or an axe or pretending to like do like Red's arrows or Jack's magic and just swinging it around and causing. as much of havoc with it. And as the evening winds down and the story peters out, the children wiping their eyes and tugging on their ears, being sleepy, end up being sent off to bed in the dungeon where they all sleep. No, that was fun, that was fun.

Yeah. Good times. Yeah, that was, yeah, I feel like I haven't had that much, like, levity around in a while. Not that you guys aren't fun. Yeah. You know, I don't know. Lightheartedness, eh? God, got so drab in here.

Yeah. You want to drink? Yeah. The embers in the fireplace grow dim. The next morning dawns clear and bright, and with a pile of clothes on the floor, it is quite clear that Doran and Mari slept very well. Thank you to our courageous patrons.

Adam Frey, Abriel, a.k. Trash Panda. Allison Wrights. Alicia Andrews. Alicia D. Amanda Nicole? Amanda Romano. Annalena, Atholagoth, Axel, Beanboy Gav, Bird, Bob, Caspian, Charles, there's a lot of these, Christopher, Sedate, Colin Burkhart, Couch, Crow, David Shaw, Dippity, DJ, Eldrich Unicorn, Emerson Forsberg, Erin Lightning, Fjord

Fuvulcrum Gabby Tau Gareth Bradshaw Haley Harpo the Marks Izzy J.D

Josh Galusha Joshua Nance Joy Robinson K.M Karen DeLay Cass Keith Adelae Kelly Foulds

Ellie Folds Lambda Leta J Lickrott Liz Lorelei Feldman Manderpants Merrick's Moon

Mulinda Curley Merlin Michaela Minty Mizra Moon Nebiyah Gwega

Oakland Okie dokey Pan Pinch of peppers Queen Rabida Naz cheese Regan Wren

Rigor Mortis Riot Rowan Ruth Ann Reed Trent Scotty Seer of Time Shannon Waldner

Sray 96 Stab sunny tea kettle Ulysses Vol control Waffle 427 Zander Morning Dove

Zephyrus and Zill Street Elizabeth So see you Next time Thanks for listening