Dice Shame - 2-127 | 'Rendezvous with Destiny'

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

https://discord.com/invite/QxPNc9X9dMImagine 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.

There's something I'd to say. I'll be right there. The closet inspection went well. Now, it was wonderful! If only I could unload some of the thoughts in my brain. It's a new one for me. All right, lead the way. Are you not having a good day?

It's a beautiful day. Of course! Yeah! I'd say you wouldn't owe me the time a day. I'm trying out some new things, Jack. Has it been longer than seven days? I just hope this library is an alphabetical order. Maybe there's something a little more out there we can push into. Your grace in this moment is a benefit.

I don't know if I would have had the same amount. Welcome. Welcome back to Dyshame. This is Season 2, Episode 127, Rondavy with Destiny. Invictuscon is back. That's right, Invictuscon is back. 20, 25. For the fifth year in the row, we are doing it. Invictuscon is an online convention that takes place on our Discord for fans of Dyshame, malevolent, divisor and the Invictus stream in general, although anyone can join. Most importantly, it's free. That's right. Over March 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, we'll be featuring panels, artist alley, costume contest, video games, and an assload of RPGs that you can run and play in. Come hang out with friends and enjoy all the InvictusCon goodness. The link is in the description.

All right, should we do this? Yeah, let's do it. Woo! afternoon sun, slowly setting on the hamperat house, Jack, you leave Red to speak with his daughter B, and you enter the hamperat house. Yeah, Jack walks in. He's got his portable hole folded up at his hands. He's sort of ringing it a little bit like he's not nervous, but he's, you know, fidgeting with it. And it's a, you know, nice, soft, hanky-sized piece of paper until he unfolds it. So it's that perfect fidgetableness until he, he wanders into the living room, trying to find Thalus and Oren and see where they are.

You hear some clattering from the kitchen. In the dining room, there are some children playing underfoot, the littler ones who aren't currently occupied with their lessons. You catch the silhouette of destiny sitting in a high-backed chair by the fire, but she doesn't turn to acknowledge your presence. Mm-hmm. Hey, uh, Oren, Thalas, uh, we, we just got back from water deep, right? Do you have a second? Yeah, you hear Thalas from in the kitchen being like, I'm in here, Jack. Uh, sorry. I got my hands wet. Can you, can you come in? No, no, of course. I, I'll be right there. Sorry, yeah, we were just, uh, Red and I took a minute. We saw, you know, that it might be helpful to get some stuff here. I know you guys don't have a lot of time to get out. So we,

got some regular food stuff, you know, whatever they could ship up, like some vegetables and fruit from the south they import in there. We got a little bit of everything just because I didn't want you guys to go without. I know it's tight around here. That's fantastic. Thank you. Thalas is standing at this wash basin. He's got his hands like deep inside of it scrubbing out the bottom of a pot and he sort of gestures with hit one foot. It's like the dry storage is just through there. Yeah, no, I will start unloading it there in a second. I did get you and Orrin something else, too. And Jack pulls out of his pocket this little charm.

It looks kind of like a meeple, just like a little guy on a piece of rope. I know, you know, it's a common refrain, I think, everywhere where there's one or two kids. And so around here, I got to imagine you're always asking for a pair of extra hands or something. So if you're wearing this thing and you say that magic words, there'll be an extra little invisible force around that can do all kind of cleaning, mending, fixing, serving, making food kind of stuff. I just thought maybe it would lighten the load.

Yeah, give it a shot. He sort of like gestures his head towards you to put it on him because he still got his hand. Oh, sure, yeah, of course. And Jack puts the cord around his neck and gets it to an appropriate length. the magic words. I wish I had a pair of extra hands. Ah, I wish I had a pair of extra hands. It's not so much a thing any of us can see, but we can definitely feel another presence in the kitchen. You know, that with a thought starts to like take the dishes from the wet side of the kitchen and dry them

and stack them neatly or whatever else Thalas has got on his mind of like the next chore to do. This is fantastic. Wow. Jack, thank you so much. You have to be. You have to be a lot. You have no idea how much this is going to be helpful. I know we left you guys with a lot to do and not enough hands to do it and we can't be around so much. Hey, you did something amazing for all of these children and for me. And I don't think I can never really thank you enough for liberating me and saving them. You know, Elizabeth, Anthony, they wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you.

Well, maybe take it as my way of saying, I think you guys are doing something amazing, too. Thank you. Wait, wait, wait, no, no. Over here. And he, like, gestures to the hands who are trying to take the pot out of his hands. He's like, I got, I got this one. God. Okay.

This is going to take a little bit. Yeah, yeah. Four pairs of hands is a lot to. This is great. No, peel carrots. And, like, the carrots just start, like, floating up. And the skins are, like, peeling off of them and landing in a little mess. pile on the counter.

Look at that. Cool. I mean, that's great. Yeah. Jack, thank you so much. And he wipes his hands off on a dish towel and shakes one of your hands warmly. Yeah, I got one for Oren, too, I figured. Whoa.

Twins. I can't imagine how the kids are going to react to it. One for me, one for Oren. That's great. Thank you. You're welcome. Can I share it with other people too? I think, whoever's wearing it.

I mean, it's, you know, probably only an hour or two. day. It's not, you know, it takes a minute for magic to accumulate out of the weave and refill its charge and stuff, but it's, you know, a couple extra pairs of hands a day. That'll be really helpful. Listen, I mean, from, from me and Oren and Destiny, thank you so much. Jack flinches when he says Destiny, but Thalas swallows hard and looks at you a little bit reproachfully, And he says, oh, you know, Jack, last night was a little bit awkward at dinner. I know you might have some issues with Destiny, but I think you should speak with her. You hear like a shuffle and a bump from underneath the kitchen counter?

And Doran, like, tumbles out of the cover that has the beer. Have you been down there the whole time? Uh, well, um, this, uh, this beer is delicious. And I mean, I'm not avoiding anybody, if that's what you're asking. No, come give me a hand with this. Get up, man. Dallas, like, helps you up, Doran. And then he just sort of excuses himself.

I was thinking about that Teethling woman and the argument you had last night. Listen, do you mind? And Doran kind of takes a seat at the kitchen table. Listen, I just... There's something I had to say. On both sides of the world, There's good and there's bad.

And, you know, the way I look at it, you can't really have good unless you have bad. And also, what is good and bad? I mean, you think that because she follows, you know, these people that lie and steal, that they're bad. But obviously, you've got to have people of all color and all backgrounds and all beliefs in order for this world to really, you know, work together. Take that orc, for example. Remember the cook? I mean, you know, for generations, orcs and dwarves have been vile enemies, hating one another just because of our races.

It doesn't make any sense. I guess she's here, she's helping, she can't be purely evil, even if she believes in someone that you and I think might be, you know, generally seen as doing wrong deeds by lying. I don't know. I definitely owe her an apology. You're right. I just, it's, uh, there's a lot of things that happen in the world and I, I sometimes imagine the world, the version of it where I have more control over, over things and life is, you know, up and down.

And I just, I was caught off guard by her and, uh, oh, caught off guard by a woman. Ha, uh, yeah. I, can you imagine? It's a new one for me. It's, uh, if only I could unload some of the thoughts in my brain. Well, I know she's over there in the, um, in the drawing room. Do you want to, maybe we can go see if now's a good time while I've got some moral support. I'm here for you.

I think now's a great time for a hug. Aw. Oh, did you take a bath this morning? Uh-huh. Oh. No. Oh, okay. It's just, uh, you'll leave the way.

I'll follow you. Huh. Yeah, the two of you wander on into the drawing room. Mars, like, walking by and she sees door and then immediately, like, turns around and like, like, starts heading into the direction, like, dum-da-dum-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-w walks into a broom closet. What's behind this door? Anyway. She's just in there, and just now she's, like, ear-pressed to the door, listening.

Destiny's still sitting by the fire. It looks like our hands are busy with something, but you can't really tell with what from where you're standing in the doorway. There's a couple kids like underneath one of the tablecloths. She turns her head like a quarter of the way and just catches your eye a little bit and then sort of turns back toward the fire. Yes. Red bursts in the front door.

Ah, that was a good conversation. Hey, Dorn, hey Jack, hey Destiny Dorn, can I bore you for a second, please? Oh, uh... Sure, Red. See you later, Jack. Bye, Bye, Destiny. Yeah, Red throws his arm around Dorn and the two of them walk back outside. I want to try to find him.

Oh, right, let's go out. Doreen leaves. Jack looks around for Kieran, and he's also out somewhere playing with the kids, and it's just like, oh, fuck. I just, uh... I can't imagine how hard your life must have been these last couple of months. Have your town ransacked by cloud giants

only to then be kidnapped by goblins and forced to watch them pick out which of your friends and neighbors to eat for dinner and to barely squeak out of that alive. And then when help arrives from Waterdeep to rebuild your community, to find yourself persecuted and driven from your home into the cold of the oncoming winter,

it's awful. And I'm truly sorry that happened to you. It was wrong. And for my part in it, despite whatever best intentions I thought I had, I share a measure of blame for that hardship you've been through, and I'm really sorry for that, too. It's been a really hard winter for a lot of folks for a lot of reasons. I was speaking from an academic and inexperienced position when I wrote to the spires of the morning

to tell them with the tragedies that happened at Nightstone and the death of my friend Valroza and she stops knitting she's motionless now looking straight at you and I'm I'm sure you've heard the history of this place being here six weeks now or whatever it was you must have shown up right as we just left last time culted devil worshippers living here and we did what we could to try and leave the place better than we found it, and we had to send some infernal creatures back to hell to do it. And we had other pressing things to attend, too. We did our best to leave Oren and Thalas with enough money to take care of the kids with nowhere else to go and whatever else they thought

they could manage. And I don't want to bring any more trouble into your life. I don't know you. I don't know much of anything about you other than you're willing to track. through a long cold winter to a house of a former diabolist to shout at dinner that you're a devotee of Asmodaeus. And if you were living, you're working almost anywhere else in the world, I'd say you wouldn't owe me the time of day. But fate brought us together, brought us here where there's children and people I care about. and I'm hoping you'd be willing to share a little bit about yourself with me. Her fierce expression softens and she blinks in surprise at you.

You can see the tension she was holding in her body releases and she puts aside her knitting. I have seldom been given the chance. to share myself with my prosecutors. People take one look at me. My skin, the horns, the tail, and they immediately jumped to conclusions about my family, about my life, who I must be.

When I heard you were here, I admit that my heart hardened, and I was grateful for the opportunity to show you coldness. and I'm sorry for my part of that. It's been a long road to acceptance, and my usual reaction is to prepare for a fight. I expected that you and I would be at each other's throats before long, so you caught me off guard with your lovely apology.

And destiny starts to cry. a little bit. You said that you can't imagine how hard my life must have been these past couple of months. And while true, that makes it sound like you are the greatest author of my hardships when in fact you are only the most recent. But it's not fair to hold a grudge, not with you here asking so earnestly. for my forgiveness so I forgive you and if you really want to get to know me well it would be best to start at the beginning what would you say to breakfast tomorrow morning

just you and me we can we can open our hearts and she scrubs a hand across her face and looks out the window to compose herself a little bit I appreciate your graciousness and I have a genuine interest to know more about your faith and and and perspective on the world because it's clearly one I am ignorant of. She reaches across the emptiness between the two of you. She holds her hand out without much expectation. Jack reaches out and gives it a little squeeze. And she holds your hand there across the emptiness between your two chairs in front of the fire.

And she says, this is a time of war you know it even more than I do people like us need to see fit to set our differences aside in pursuit of common good

thank you thank you and she nods at you taking her leave Mari like awkwardly comes out of that broom closet as Jack is leaving And yeah, she's, she has been in there with her earpress to the door like, oh, no, I cannot walk out mid-conversation. It's going to be too weird and tries very hard to just not act as nonchalant as possible and just walk beside Jack.

Just like, so. Oh. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. The closet inspection went well. How are you doing?

Good. Great. Sorry, we went to Waterdeep And didn't tell you And I feel really bad about that That's fine I'll just, I'll bury that That's fine

I have a, I have a, I'll bury that some of my memory So next time I can hold it against you Okay, yeah, good to I'm kidding, have a few of those in your back Yeah, thanks I'm kidding, I overheard All of that

Yeah Yeah, I don't know Trying to be open-minded and, you know, put myself on a limb. You have more patience than I do in the situation, Jack. I'll say that. But I think your grace in this moment is a benefit. I don't know if I would have had the same amount.

Try it. Got to find the good, because there's so much bad out there. Have you seen Doran? Red just grabbed him and I... I mean, I've seen him around. Oh, I just meant like, right, I guess... I've seen a lot of Doran in the last little bit, and I think he's just off, you know, getting a lot of space right now.

I think that's fine. Let him and Red do whatever it is they're going to do. Smash cut to Doran and Red, heading upstairs to Orrin's room. Now, it was wonderful. We were walking through the aisles of little shops, and I found a pair of gloves, I was this close to buying them, but... And Jack said, I shouldn't.

And he was probably right, because there were two lefts. And then I got a beautiful ring, and I gave it to her at front. I think everything is going to be hunky-dory from now on. Not that you know that we were fighting, but I think she and I were budding heads a little bit. You know, seeing Whim and all that. Well, I'm just glad that you're having a good day. Yeah. Well, why wouldn't I be?

Well... Are you not having a good day? It's a beautiful day. I'm having a great day. I just... You know, I just asked how your morning was. Where is Oren, by the way? I don't know.

I thought he'd be up here. The door to his room is closed. Oh, hey, uh, maybe he's in there. I told him. Oren! And Red knocks hard on the door. Come in. Do you want us to come in?

Just one second, I'll get the door. I think he wants us to come in. Red opens the door. Sure. You walk into a very strange scene. Oh. the curtains are pulled over the windows and it's dark inside but there are a dozen candles lit in a circle and oren is sitting in the middle of this circle of candles oh uh red master dorin uh sorry orin just one one second

and he like goes around to all the candles and blows them all out you don't have to stop your a long time for us no of course not uh red walks in and like when doran enters he like shuts door behind them and like locks it what's uh what's going on Lauren I I'm just having a birthday party oh birthday party for the floor yep oh yeah totally happy birthday to me happy birthday I didn't want to say anything of course to you yeah totally totally yeah definitely your birthday. Oh my god, happy birthday, Oren. Um, why in a circle, Oren? It's like a cake. Um, yeah, totally. Look, Oren, um, I don't need to roll inside to know that you're lying. Because I'm not that stupid. Not for people I know, you know. If I didn't know you, maybe you could pull one over,

but come on, Oren, if it was your birthday, at least someone else here would know, and I would have bought you a present. And I can't feel that bad about not getting you a present. So, clearly it can't be a birthday. Doran sort of looks around the room. Is there anybody else in here? Doesn't seem to be. Look, why don't you just come up here, Red Lake, sits on the bed and pats on the bed next to him, and tell Doran and I what's going on here.

Yeah, you got me a little bit concerned here. You're not one of those Asmodious devil worshipers too now, are you? Don't get me started on that, Doran. It's nothing like that. I promise. Oh, good. Well, then put it this way. This is a house that once housed a bunch of evil demons.

Jack is pretty gun-shy. Wait, what's the opposite of gun-shy? Quick gun-to-draw. A gung-ho? He's gung-ho. Thanks, Doran. To, you know, point the proverbial lefander finger on those he might smite, let's just clear this up before we leave so he doesn't blast you and by extension us into the next realm

I know he was asking me some questions earlier and I didn't want to say anything to him because I know that he's got kind of a prejudice I'm in love oh oh see and Dora like smacks red in the arm with the back of his hand I told you it wasn't anything I didn't say it was. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't. Did I say it was bad? No, that's no devil worshipping. I didn't...

No, no, I said Jack was gung-haw. Maybe I said that. Oh, and love is a wonderful thing. You don't need to be acting all spooky about it. Well... Oh, were you expecting her? Did we interrupt? Or him.

Or it, obviously. Any kind flies with us. Do you want us to leave and give us... It's not a... Marie, is it? Why would it be Maori? Of course not. I don't know.

She's pretty. Who are you talking about, Oren? Just tell us. Stop making us guess. God. I've only been feeling these feelings for a little while. It's not B. Oh, good, because I'll be honest, if this was some sort of like spell to get her into you, I would probably have to kill you. Kill?

No. No. I would never. Oh, good. Listen, ever since maybe. A couple of ten day ago, I was noticing some things were moving around in my room. I assumed it was one of the children, naturally. And then, and he gets this far off look in his eyes. And then you realize he's looking across the room at a painting.

Then I noticed that the portrait had changed. Oh? Red snaps his eyes to the portrait. You're in love with a picture? The woman there. she used to be sitting on the lip of the well looking down and then and then she wasn't anymore

she was looking at me then a few days later she was closer standing under the tree in the foreground I could see her face and it looked like she'd been crying and that's when I started to see her in other places in the house

other paintings but sometimes she would visit me in a water basin when I was washing my hands, peering over my shoulder, and once I caught her standing behind me in a mirror in the downstairs gallery. But now she's in my dreams, speaking to me. Oh, so you fell in love with the well girl.

Has it been longer than seven days? It's been a few ten days, bread. Oh, good. Well, that's lovely. I mean, that's wonderful. I mean, you know, let Unkey Doran and I go through the checks, you know, to make sure she's not, you know, evil. But beyond that, I'd say this is great. So this spirit is, um, following you around.

Cool? I'm open-minded. Hey, if there's anything I've learned in the last few months is that, you know, there's all sorts of angles in different. situations that involve magic and boy oh boy he sort of walks over and inspects the painting the painting that oren is referring to hangs beside one of the eastern windows and the well is in the rear left of the painting just sheltered underneath some low hanging boughs of trees and as orrin described the woman occupies part of the foreground now she's leaning sort of shyly against the trunk of a tree

and her pretty face is just smiling out at you. She's not moving, it's a painting. So she was sitting on the well and now she's not. And he sort of takes a moment and then he puts his hand up and he says, hello there Miss, and then walks back to Oran.

So Oran, look, there's two sides to this and we'll have to do both. But let's start with the good stuff. What's her name? Yeah, what do you know about her? Usually when you fall in love with somebody, you know something about them,

or you traveled together. You've really gone through some stuff, life and death. He's turned you to a squirrel at least once. You know that she's got some weird fungus growing on her shoulder. Like there's like stuff you know, concrete stuff. that's the tricky part red i feel like i know her because she's been appearing to me in my dreams she brings such a feeling of comfort and she speaks with me we make the most beautiful music together but then when i wake it all dissolves and and that's why i've been trying to do this i don't know

seance thing. I remember Kralath would talk about doing this kind of stuff. It's just fake, though. I don't really know what I'm doing. I just want her to stay with me. Pass when I wake up.

Oh, Orin. That's lovely, first off. I'm glad you have that feeling. Yeah. That's pretty unbelievable to spend some time with someone like that in your dreams. It's almost too nice, you know?

Look, pause the seances for now, just for now. Let Doran and I do a little poking around. Maybe we can find an old book with a picture in it and find out who your lovely lady is, okay? And then we'll get right back to you, quick as a flash, and then we'll talk about maybe how to, you know, how to get you two together proper. How does that sound? That's a fantastic idea. Master Red, I never even thought about doing really.

research. That's why the brain trust is on it. You know, Doran and I, the other two might look like the smart ones, but when it comes to pure intuition, he sits down hard on the bed and grabs like a little throw pillow and like hugs it tight to his chest and he sort of throws himself back and just looks up at the ceiling. He's like, I can't wait to find out what you find. You should take Doran and I will be right back and locked it all behind us. and Red exits and brings Doran out. Doran sort of turns to Red and he's like, gives him a jab in the side with his elbow.

What the hell are you doing? Why now we've got to read and we got to do a bunch of research? He's like homework. Across the way, across the way. Come to the library, and Red leads Doran to the library where he was sleeping. Grumbling. Where do we even start reading this stuff? Red shuts the door.

Make sure no one else is in there. All right, look, what are we thinking? Well, I mean, you know You mean, you're a lot to fall in love with whoever you want Well, of course you can fall in love with anybody you want But, you know, some people just don't work together, you know A certain someone with some oddly colored skin Oh, what are you, what are you saying?

Cremlart, your goblin wife Oh, yeah, of course My wife! Oh, right, yeah Oh, what do you, right, yeah What did you think I was talking about? what are the colors they're sleeping with Look, all I'm saying is

Okay, look First off, we can't tell Jack about this Not until we're sure Same with Māori The two of them want to get together They're gonna start tearing Orrin's love apart What we need to do Is determine whether this is a trick

To get Orin to do something evil Or if this is treat for him What? It's not Halloween I hear you, I agree All I'm saying is the minute we get the other two involved, you know what they're going to think. They're going to think it's a trick,

no matter what we say. Well, so, let's do a little research, a little poking around, little questions with Orrin. Hey, maybe if none of that shakes out, tonight you and I can do our own little seance and talk to a one-on-one, because I'm sure I can steal a spell from that nerdy little mages,

you know, the one in B's group. I'm sure I can borrow something from him, dupe him into helping us. Well, whatever you think, I mean, look, I'm not an expert when it comes to love or relationships or even just casual things. But I'll tell you this, maybe you're on to something. I mean, it would be terrible if he was used just for, you know, just for the physical things. Oh, you mean like possession or something?

Hey, that's not a bad idea. Yeah, like some ghosts coming into his room and I just to take advantage of his body. and use him. I mean, there's nothing necessarily wrong with, you know, physical love, but as long as both parties are welcome and contented to it, and there's not any feelings involved, because feelings can get awkward and... Doran, are you feeling all right?

Of course, yeah, we're talking about Orin. Yeah, of course. Who do you think we were talking about? Well, Orin, but... Right. Just, um... You know what? I think you're right.

You lead the way. Maybe should I start reading? Yes. Look, Doran, you start looking through these books. See if you can find anything of the previous inhabitants. I'm going to go speak to Thalice and check out some of the albums downstairs in the living room. That's not a bad idea. But I'm going to do it sneaky so Jack doesn't notice, okay?

I just hope this library is an alphabetical order. A. Meanwhile, Mari and Jack, what are the two of you getting up to? So I think I've got everything we need. Maybe we can find a quiet spot in the basement. Yeah, oh, the basement. Okay, I haven't been down there. I don't have I?

No. I mean, it's, it's, I hear it's classrooms now, but it was always ritual space of some sort. I think it'll work for this. Perfect. And I've got, I got the supplies we need in Water Deep Jack says, and he pulls out a paper sack that he brought, you know, with him. All right. Lead the way. And, uh, because I have, I have questions.

Yeah, of course. The two of you head downstairs. There's like a secret doorway through the pantry. And you hear some chanting from the east. side of the the dungeon basement but that's really just as doran found out recently school kids doing rope memorization of like the names of the mountains in phaerun right now is a geography lesson going on and it's kind of an oppressive environment down here they've really done a lot of work to try to scrub all traces of this having ever been the den of cultists uh trying to home me up

the place with some like nice like scarfs thrown over the lamp and things, the altars. Yeah, yeah. I think you guys destroyed a lot of those special stonework that was dedicated to the devils and things. We find a room off to the side that hasn't quite found a new purpose yet. And Jack sets out his spellbook and, you know, some of his inks and parchments. And he pulls out the little paper sack and pulls out the oil cloth in it and starts unfolding it until there's a dozen sugared plums sitting on the table. And in a flash, Kieran, here. Interesting. I was curious as to what kind of spell this was for, as it's not generally something I'd be using outside of maybe a holiday dinner. So I don't know that this is quite a

spell. And Kieran, that's why I'm hoping you're here and you can help us out. I think because we have, you know, the familiar master connection and your current body has a little bit of telepathy on its own. If you enjoy your sugar plums and can help convey kind of the sensation of magic that I'm feeling and the sensation of magic that Mari's feeling, we can maybe have a little bit of a conduit to go inside the magic and see where the frayed edges are and where things are losing control. That's kind of what I'm thinking. Tieran curls up beside this paper bag and reaches inside with a tall and claw, pierces a sugared plum and starts to eat it and just like kind of gives you like that's as good as a

contract now you know pleasant face those do look good well one wouldn't hurt to get us shoots you an aggressive look all right you're right they're yours i wouldn't dream of it that's fine and jack sits down and and uh let's just see if this works all right and he starts to channel just a little bit of magic into some like prestidigitation sparkles and illusions in front of us and and, you know, goes inside that feeling to transmit what it feels like to control that magic to Kieran, who passes on the impressions and sensations of it into Mari. Yeah, Mari's just kind of concentrating and trying to sort of feel out on the edges of her magic, the sort of tactile kind of moment, trying to see if there's anything, any sort of way that she can

kind of find that connection, because it's weird. It's kind of, it's like, it's almost like trying to listen to a conversation through a wall. Why don't you try something now? Maybe your weather spell. Something just that you're very comfortable with so we can see what magic you're in control of feels like. And then maybe there's something a little more out there we can push into.

All right. And Mari moves her hand out, and she sort of waves it around in a little circle. And an orb that predicts the weather pops up. And it shows the weather for the next 24. hours. It shifts from just overcast clouds to a little bit of rain into darkness as the night moves on. And it just floats in front of her. And she just focuses on it and tries to sort of, like, almost like try to concentrate and try to push that magic out towards Kieran as well.

Okay. Neat. I, I mean, it's so different to feel, I don't need. And Jack, like, it takes a minute not to get too academic and, like, how it interacts with the weather. and things. You have to think about, you know the feeling of like, of the air right before a storm or the coldness of the wind in winter or the feeling of like the hot sun on the, on the most baking kinds of days. That is the feeling that you need to feel to have this kind of magic work. So if you can, if you can picture that, if you can imagine that sensation on your skin,

it can help you tap into something that's in there. All of this magic is pulled from the earth. Okay. Yeah, I can, I can feel it, but I'm trying to think of how I would describe it in the language I could write on a spellbook. And that's the translation part in my head. I don't, but it feels like this is very comfortable for you.

Why don't you try something that's a little bit more out there just to see if we can figure out where things were starting to come undone. Right. And Mari starts to focus in words, and she tries, and rather than listening to the softer kind of voices in the weave that tell her to reach into magic or anything, she starts to listen to that, to this sort of darker urge in her that's been coming up more and more. The thing that tells her, you have this power, use it. And she starts to cast this spell that creates this circle around one of the little desks off to the side that's made of these vines that are all in black. And it starts to grow up around it and start to pull and tear at the pieces of it to start. It starts kind of trying to find anything that might be living on it.

Mari, are you doing that on purpose? I don't think we should break the wall. No. No, and she's trying to pull it back, and it just keeps climbing up and up. I think, I think it's good, it's fine, just, all right, that is enough, and she stops it. And it just dissipates into a series of vines that collapse into the ground. And then, sorry? When you were casting, you? You didn't hear it?

I heard something, but I think I was just trapped in my own head there, and I wasn't. I'm trying out some new things, Jack. I'm trying out some new things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I think I know where we can, we've got to figure out what that's trying to say. Jack, can I tell you something? Of course. When I use that spell in the forest, when we ran into those bandits, and it's,

tore that guy apart yeah i didn't i didn't want for that to happen i didn't want for that guy to die he didn't deserve that that was that was a mistake yeah after i after i spoke to that being on the other side when i was messing around and trying some stuff out and i spoke to him you know he he told me that there is power that i'm going to have to deal with it and i'm going to have to take it. And in that moment, I just kind of let everything that I've been holding back, every single thing that I have been pressing down through this whole journey, through this whole thing where I have been trying to be this person that I always thought I was, and I let it go. And I feel bad, letting that magic run wild again. I, it wasn't enjoyable to feel

that and stuff is going to be getting big and if the shadow fell is coming then it's going to be a big mess and it's going to be tough i'm there's hesitation there there is a moment yeah somewhere in me this crack has formed and the waters of it are slowly gently seeping into the back of my brain Saving the world feels like a bit of a large ask. A friend of mine spoke a lot about balance. Because I think whatever you've been trying to compress, to squeeze, to stop, clearly that's got an equal and opposite force that's trying to get out of you. There's an equilibrium somewhere in there,

and you've got to find that balancing point. or this thing is just going to tear you up. I can't speak to Krayloth's fate. If accepting this power or accepting what is what my future is or walking this path or doing any of these things means that's what's going to happen to me, then how am I supposed to head forward? Fair enough.

Kieran sort of like taps his claw on the bag and looks up at you, Jack. There's no more plums left. All right, what a great episode. I'm very proud now to thank all of our valiant Patreon supporters. This first name I can't pronounce, it's A followed by a bunch of A's and a bunch of symbols. We'll say, Abby Mae Burkin

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