Dice Shame - 2-128 | 'Call Back'

Episode Date: February 6, 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.

It really was a person. Is everything okay? You're afraid you'll spill the beans. Well, you tried. Oh, I know you will be. Like, it's called Fell Bar. I mean, somebody's fallen. Sorry, Tito.

Jack doesn't want to give you his book. That's on you, buddy. I'm not too bothered by it. See, I'm sure we can find a seat here that fits. Oh, I'm at tobacco. Did I not make that clear? It seemed like a nice idea at the time. That's the way you do it.

Tito! Red like shakes Tito. Maybe it was the black time. The dock tied, but no. Even better. Even better. Welcome back to say that. Welcome back to Dyshame.

This is Season 2, episode 128 callback. MVP this week is Jim Chirico, who's been live blogging their listen on our Discord. Jim says, I started with malevolent and then found Dyshame. because I needed more Harlan in my life. Now I'm addicted and need desperately to play D&D. Listen, I hope you find a good home group, but in the meantime... I'm here for you. I hope you're enjoying your listen.

You are this week's MVP. All right, shall we do this? Yeah, let's play some D&D. Wahoo! Red. After speaking with Oren and finding out more about his fantastimal crush, you and Doren have taken it upon yourselves to uncover some more information about her. What exactly are you doing?

Red is downstairs looking through the albums, and eventually he sort of comes across one. Hey, hey, I think this could be something. He pulls a picture out as Thalus walks in from the kitchen. Oh, he shoves it into his coat. Lunch smells great, Thales. It's dinner time, Red, but... It smells great. Am I interrupting you?

No, no, not at all. I'm just... Red's like rubbing his, like, chest where he put the photo away, like trying to tuck it in a little further. Hey, apropos of nothing, these albums here, do you know? How many of the people in them? I've only really taken a cursory look at them, honestly. Just for my own imagination. These are photographs?

No. Or they're what kind of album? They're like drawings. Okay. Yeah, family illustrations. Family illustrations. Yeah. Okay.

No, I just, maybe we could describe illustrations. Albums. I don't know. To me, I'm picturing photographs. That's all. Photographs exist. Rob. We'll talk about it when he opens it up and looks at it.

Phyllis, these albums of child drawings, they're all from people who used to live here, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't really count myself among, like, the lineage of the people here, because I was just a servant. Of course, of course. But it was certainly nice for them to file all these beautiful, you know, sketchings away. Looks like there's some real talent there. You know, I guess one of the children here must have been a budding artist. probably why do you ask oh no reason no reason none none whatsoever none though and red reaches in his pocket

someone sketched a lovely portrait of a young girl um do you recognize her and red holds out the picture that is like it's like a sketching of her sitting by the well i mean someone painted her by the well um so you're saying that you found a book with this child sketches yeah there's like a whole bunch it's like it's like a think about it you know they wouldn't have albums and they put all the child drawings away sticking with it I don't no I don't recognize let me see that

and like as he holds it up to look at it you see on the back it says Kina Lothran 1350 Oh you know what Never mind and I pull it back I was just looking at that

No I realized I was thinking of a different picture It's uh Red reaches back into the album of drawings and pulls another one This one And he hands him a crayon drawing Of what's clearly a broken carriage It's like there's like a cat

Do you recognize this carriage? I don't think so. No, I don't recognize that carriage. Okay, well, that's all. Just wanted to know. Here, you keep that. Put it on the stove. I'll be upstairs.

Red tucks the drawing of the girl away and runs back upstairs. Doran, Doran! Opens the door and enters the study that he left Doran to read. Hey, Red, there are some fantastic books here on blacksmithing and medley. What are you doing? Oh, right, right, right, right. Um, listen, here. Remember how Doran wanted to take Red and Wim to like a, um,

like a peep show where the armor was like the main event? He's like looking at pictures of armor like, oh, yeah. Focus. Oh, it doesn't matter. I did both of our work. And Red walks over and he holds out the drawing. Look, this is her. And her name is right here on the back.

And Red turns it around for Doran to read. Wow. So it really was a person Look, I also found this book And he turns it over and he holds it up It's called Dream Visitors And it says here Only powerful emotions

Can pull another being into your dreams I mean, does it make sense Well, it makes perfect sense That if Orrin is fallen in love That now this person is visiting his dreams I wonder if this is a ghost Of someone who used to live here Hey, hey, that's not a bad idea at all.

That makes a lot of sense. I mean, you know, it says 1350 on the back of it, and at least, you can't carry the one, like, 700 years ago. So close. Or like 192. Yeah, well, whatever. You know, all I mean to say is, you know, it was a long time ago. So, uh, look, here's what I'm thinking.

Red tucks the picture away. I don't think Orrin was on the wrong, uh, track here. Somebody might be a good idea. But, you know, he was just throwing noodles to the wind. I'm thinking we get Tito, that weird little mage that traveling with B. We get him somewhere quiet, and we get him to use one of his spells to summon this woman, and we can talk to her and make sure she's up to snuff before Orrin gets involved. Because look, if Orrin does find out directly from us that, you know, she's not great,

well, I don't want to have to clear it with him before we... We, you know, Red runs his finger across his own neck. Burn the painting. It's best to figure it out. Find out what we have to do to solve that problem, if we have to, and then let Oren know. I don't want to give us hopes up and then have to kill his girlfriend. Well, yeah, that makes sense. Or, you know, maybe we summon the beings, enough that we can talk to them.

But then, you know, if we find out that they're actually not doing good, we just let it be. and let Orrin live in the imaginary life that he's living. 100%. Continuing. Totally. Yeah. You and I are on the same page. Look, I'll go speak with Tito.

Get him to meet us in the tower. You go speak with Mari and make sure she and Jack are occupied for the next 20-so minutes. Whoa. Why don't I go speak with Tito and you go speak with Mori and Jack? Oh, I see what's going on. Oh, you do? Oh, I didn't mean that You're afraid you'll spill the beans

No worries All right I'll meet you upstairs in five minutes with Tito That sounds good I'll go speak with Marion Jack And Red runs out of the room Tito and Doran are walking up The spiral staircase

To the attic where Red awaits I definitely wasn't being creepy Doran if that's what you're trying to insinuate Well It's not that I was insinuing you were being creepy But she was just doing push-ups And it's like my job as the wizard.

Hey, come here, creep. Look, we need your help. And Red Lake brings them over to the center. Look, I drew a circle here in the sand. I think that's kind of... Well, I poured the sand. And I think what we need is some sort of spelly stuff, right?

Wait, Doren said that it was Orrin's birthday? Well... Oh, well, that's what we call a ruse. Yeah, it's not really his birthday. You see, I just said that so that you'd think it was and then you'd come upstairs with me

thinking that we might be giving him some sort of gift or something. But in reality... What's going on here? Look, we want to summon a spirit. Look, I grab this and read points the painting. I took this from Orrin's room while he wasn't looking. Okay, he knows I have it, but I told him I was just investigating.

And it's not really, you know, something that we're supposed to be sharing around. It's sort of a secret, but Orrin's in love with this woman in the painting. And so we're trying to bring her back to question her to make sure that her intentions are true. And kill her if she's not. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So... Yeah. Can you help us?

What we need you to do is some sort of summony thing, a way that we could speak to her, maybe like, speak to ghost, or talk it to painting, or bring ghost to life. One of those things. I'm on board. All right. So here's the thing, guys, I don't... You're not really a mage. For sure, no, that I can do this. Oh, you can do it. Trust me. We're not going to tell anybody.

Yeah. Okay, that was what I was concerned about is that you're going to tell Jack if I did it bad. No, are you kidding? I think Jack's really cool. Oh, honey. And I just... Listen, if I help you guys,

will you please, please steal his spellbook and just give it to me for like 12 hours? Oh, this work? I've made carbon copies of all of his stuff. I've read all to this flipbook of like... Carbon copies in that Jack's Spellbook, just got covered in carbon black dust, so it was, like, woke up to smudges. Like, who the fuck did it?

Yeah, look, we'll get you anything you need. Look, this is for a friend of a friend, family, really. Orrin is like a brother to us, right, Doran? Yeah, absolutely. Uh, red, can I just talk to you for a sight? He grabs you by the neck and kind of leans you over. He's like, yeah, yeah, what? He wants to steal Jack's magic spellbook, but maybe he just...

Yeah, we steal stuff from Jack all the time. Well, I do. Okay, yeah. Well, okay, we're, or whatever you like. Jack's spellbook, consider it a done deal. We'll give you Mari's spellbook, too. Hell, we know seven other spellbooks. You ever heard of Blackstaff?

Or the deepest, darkest, magic spells from the deepest darkest crevices? Hold on, that sounds amazing. Yeah, well, we'll give you all of them if you help us with our friend Oren. All right, I'll see what I can do. You can do anything, friend. Red massages his shoulders. Come on. Yeah, loosen the lips.

The tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips. You got this. Red steps back and stands next to Doran. he shakes out his scrawny arms and then rolls up his voluminous sleeves pulls his wand out from his wand holder that he has around his waist red stands back and turns the door and what was he doing that was creepy he's doing push-ups against the wall standing up straight he said he was looking at a woman or something who was he looking at

It was a female horse, okay? Oh. He was looking at the horse. He was doing push-ups against the wall. I just thought he was the wrong intentions, okay? It was a bad timing. And then he got all embarrassed. And I think I just embarrassed him.

What a creep. Like, something's happening. It starts from one corner of the painting and then spreads rapidly. A line of fire. And suddenly it is, eaten up and a pile of soot remains. Oh, uh-oh.

Well, you tried and you failed. I didn't see that. No, no, no, I think it's okay. Just give a second. You just burn the painting alive. No, no, no, no, no. That wasn't me. What? Yes, it was.

Nope. Hey, you fixed this, so Jack's gonna hear about it. Hold on. You wouldn't. That's not fair. Hey, life's not fair. And Orrin's girlfriend might have just died. That's on you, buddy. Doran's like stressing out his like hands are going up to his forehead he's rubbing his four he's like what's Murray gonna say about this oh my god what's about what Murray's gonna say what's Jack gonna say Jack I mean and Jack too

look it's fine I'll get a white sheet I got holes for the eyes we just repaint her uh guys what's going on hi a ghostly figure stands in front of the three of you as if she's been standing there the whole time. Oh. Oh, thank fuck. Firstly, we're sorry we burnt your painting. Potentially.

Just stop. Maybe we didn't do it. Are you evil? Stop. Wait. Everyone stop talking. Shut up. Tito, cover your ears and stand in the corner.

Okay. All right. Hello. You must be Keena. I am. I'm Doran, and this is my best friend Red. Yes. And my best friend.

Well, no, that's just Tito. He's not listening anyway. We don't even like him. Look, you have been talking with, in a dream sense, our friend, Orrin, a little halfling in this house. Yes. He's very sweet. Yes. Are you dead? I think so.

Okay. What are your intentions with Orin? I felt a warm. A pleasant energy He was keeping me company from a long way away Where am I You're in the hump rat house She starts to look around like a little bit frightened

In the attic There's nothing to be frightened of Yeah, we killed the hump rat lady I don't know what that means Don't worry about what he's saying Just... What do you remember about when you were alive? I remember the forest.

It was beautiful. I would always go out in the summertime and pick flowers for the table. The table? For a home that you lived in? Yes. I remember eating meals. And a long table.

It was beautiful. Was it a happy home? Yes. Yes. And then, and then there was darkness. Oh. Oh. Something happened to me. Oh. Yeah.

Well, look, you've clearly died and been through quite a traumatic experience. And you've been trapped in a painting for... No, I think she's just a ghost. I think the painting is sort of secondary. Well, who knows, but it's been at least 150 years. It's been at least 150 years. Seven hundred. Since. Four, 140.

Yes. This house is safe. It is a place of warmth and love. And that man that you was seeing that had warmth... Yes. The little man. I remember now he was beautiful. He was making music singing to me.

Yes. That's him. That's what drew me to him. It's kind of ironic. that she was a drawing, eh? Do you, um, how can I put this? Do you have any ill intentions with him? Do you, is your heart pure?

She looks at you read, transparent, eyes brimming with sincerity. I have no ill intentions. Red rules in sight. 18. She seems totally sincere. Tito, is she gonna, Tito? Red like shakes Tito, whose hands are over his ears in the corner.

Is she gone? What happened? No, no, she's right here. Look, is she going to stay this way? Is it temporary? What's the deal? Red, I just wrote this spell. It's like one of the coolest things I've ever done. I have no idea. Okay. Well, live every day like if it's the elast, right? Is that a spell? You can call it that. TM, TM, TM. I think we can trust it on. And moreover, I think someone really wants to meet you if you'd like to meet him. Orne is sitting on the end of his bed in this lovely master bedroom. The curtains pulled back now and late afternoon light coming through. The sky is getting

purple outside and he's playing his mandolin a little bit. Sort of idly. Like he's just trying to keep his mind busy and then there's a knock on the door just a minute and he hops up and runs over the door and opens it hi at doran and i are back dorin um i really wish that i wasn't standing here in front of you right now without your painting what no no don't dorin master darn what did you do actually was Red's fault. You talk, right? Yes, it was my fault. We destroyed the painting. Dorn! Red, no! But, but, but, but, but, but...

We got something awfully special from it before we did, and Red like steps aside. And there's a beautiful woman standing there. And Orrin just stands there, mouth agape. It's you. and he rushes forward and tries to take her up in his arms and there's he can't there's like there's no corporealness to her but she stands there looking kind of amused look look you two have a lot to catch up on but oren she seems like she's very excited to meet you and and i'm sure there's a lot that the two of you can discover about each other I'm sorry, Red turns around. They're there.

Just remember, you've got now the person, and that beautiful painting is gone, but at least you've got the person here. I really hope he isn't upset about that painting, Red. Red steps out in the hallway as Doran joins him and they shut the door, seeing the two of them embrace. Yeah. We did a good thing today, Doran. I hope. Well, God, I hope. I hope so, too.

Oh, come here, buddy Is everything okay? What have you guys been doing? Murray and Jack ascend the stairs. Oh, hey, you too. Hi. I heard you guys a sight for sore eyes. Oh, yeah.

Did someone die? Actually. No, well, yes, a long time ago. Yeah, quite the opposite. Yeah, why is there a wizard covered in ash over there mumbling to himself? Oh, ignore him. Oh, but Jack, I do need to borrow your spellbook.

No. Sorry, Tito, I tried. You know, seeing us all four in the same room again reminds me that on the way here, I don't know if you remember, but we stopped into that town and we heard of cloud giants fighting. It just reoccurred to me that, hey, we're on a mission here. I think we should think about packing up and moving along sooner than later. It just occurred to you that we're on a mission?

We got here yesterday. Like yesterday was a travel day. We haven't even had a full day here. Yeah, let's take a day or two, relax a little bit. But I do hear you, Doran. Let's get on the road. This is a big undertaking, and I think the fire giants are next, and, you know, it's not going to be easy, but together we'll do it.

This is our destiny. This is our job. All of us. Yeah. Red clocks, Mari's sort of non-committal response. Yeah. And looks to Jack, knowing that the two of them had spent the last hour together. And Jack sort of looks at his hands a little bit.

Well, look, come on, guys, and they start walking towards the stairs. Yeah, guys, let's go and have some dinner. Tito throws his arm around Maring. Sorry, Tito. Jack doesn't want to give you his book. You want to learn a really good spell, Tito. You can make food. It's late morning on the 19 of Ches, when a raven drops out of the sky neatly onto the porch of the hamperat villa, landing with its shiny black wings, held out on either side. It caws loudly and struts around until someone pays attention, whereupon a message is delivered and the bird flies off. A scroll tube produces some parchment,

upon which is finally written in both dwarven ruins and translated to common script. The presence of the night stone four is requested at council by General Chaos Hammer. Travel to Citadel Felbar, by the order of King Morin and Queen Tithmo. The rest of the morning is spent in a blur of getting ready and saying goodbye montages. We see Jack hastily finishing up his breakfast with Destiny, their heart-to-heart chat having smoothed over the rougher feelings between the two. We see red in a private moment with B,

assurances that they'll wear their rings, a warm hug, wishes that their arrows find their marks. We see Thalus and Wim, assisted by, invisible hands, sorting out provisions for packs, and then having farewelled Orrin and his ghost girlfriend and B's adventuring party and grin and all the orphans, with the early spring's sun on the tops of your head and your shoulders, you leave the hamperat house. Traveling up to Citadel Felbar takes you 16 days by horseback. It's 10 days to Everland and a further six days up through the Silvery Moon Pass

that carves through the nether mountains. Your journey is marked by days of rain. Pleasant but brief interactions with fellow travelers, a night in Silvery Moon at Jack's mom's place, though she is out of town. And as many campfire stories as you can handle. Wim is even getting the knack of telling her own variety of tales, and they usually end with monsters gleefully devouring misbehaving children, the firelight casting orange.

shadows on her pantomime. Citadel Thelbar is a formidable dwarven fortress city that lies beneath the foot of the Rauvin Mountains. Its surface entrance is securely protected from the would-be invaders in an ingenious fashion. A road rises up out of the plains and gains a height of 100 feet with sharp cliff faces on both sides winding its way toward the mountain face above. Two enormous gates protect the road. Two wide parapets with crenellated battlements stand outside the gates on the nearby mountain sides and machines are visible atop these battlements. You can imagine that any invaders would have a very difficult time indeed gaining access to this fortress.

The fifth of Tarsak, the claw of storms, sees our adventurers at the gate. of Citadel Falbar. Oh my god. Look at the size of those gates. Doren. Has every Citadel have gates that large? No, these are some of the biggest gates you'll find north of the Grey Peak Mountains. In fact, these are some of the biggest gates, not just to Dwarvind kind, but to...

To all the kind. Wow, they are quite big. Well, yeah, so big that they've given them names. This one over here is Hammer. And that one is Anvil. Oh, I've read about those. We like to stick with the blacksmithing theme. I don't know if you've noticed that.

Very dwarven, yeah. Interesting. I wonder if they smack together they make a loud clang. No doubt. Red, I don't know if you've been around while I've been melding and smelting. Of course I have. It's artistry. Yeah, it's loud too.

Dorn, did you clean yourself since the other night? You look, you look like you, well, is your hair combed? You know, when you're going to face the king, you want to make sure you look proper. Oh, right. And Red, like, licks the back of his palm and, like, slicks down his hair as well. Yeah, of course, of course. I mean, is this the first king we've met?

Jack? Definitely, depending on how all the royalty ranks together amongst the dwarves. But I'm pretty sure it's definitely the first Dwarven king. You've killed, like, giant king analogs. Yeah, I mean, I don't count a chief as a king necessarily. I think those are different. All right, so we're on our best behavior then, I suppose. Red gives a nervous look to Mari.

She's just kind of awestruck by the size of this place. She's never seen a fortress like this and is sort of awkwardly trying to smooth her hair back into a bun again. Well, Chaos Hammer is somewhere in here. Who are we going to see again? As you recall, we get that letter by Order of King Morin and Queen Tithmel of Citadel Feldbar, which is where we're standing.

not sure exactly what they want but we do have a little history with a captain Chaos Hammer maybe he's ascended to General that might be how he knew to track down the Nightstone 4 you know which is weird because last time we ran into Chaos Hammer

he was kind of disgraced he was sent back to Citadel Abbar is a bit of a well a usurper I suppose oh well he's a respected general and don't forget he saved my life once oh right what do you think ever happened

to Mogier flame tendered. Wasn't that guy trying to get something on you? Well, you'll recall in Jellanthory. I bested him. You were a witness to Doran splitting his head in half. Jack, I cut his head on half. What the hell you're talking? You know how I forget this? There's no way you would have survived that. Anyway,

Chaos Hammer is a friend, Mari, so as much as it was a bit touch and go there for a while, I mean he did try to blackmail us using the name of the Nightstone for to sort of allow him to do some somewhat nefarious deeds, I suppose. though for a good reason.

Anyway, I think it all worked out in the end. His men turned on him, and I think he found the right path, as it were. Yeah. One would hope if he's calling us here. I don't know. Hopefully it's giant-related business. Yeah. Whim elbows, you read, and she sort of gestures with her head to take a, like, a step away from the group.

What? What is it? She looks of her shoulder to make sure that the two of you aren't being observed. And then she signs, is everything okay with her? With who? Marie? Yeah, of course. She's always a little moody, a little down about things. Why?

She signs, she seems quiet. Yeah, well, you know, it's been a lot. You know, she's been dealing with her magic, and I don't know. Why do you think she's quiet? She just sort of shrugs and signs, maybe you should talk to her. Yeah. Maybe. You think this is all getting to her? I know her and Jack spoke at the house about some stuff, but I don't know.

I guess I didn't think much of it. Then she signs, you know her better than I do. Yeah, I guess. To me, it seems like cold feet, maybe? Cold feet. Sorry, maybe that doesn't translate. No, I hear you. I hear you. Yeah, I'll say something.

She nods. Thanks, Wynne. And women I join up with the others. I don't need to remind you all that we are going to see a king and queen and to be on your best behavior. And he kind of keeps looking over at red. And not to cause too many... I was the first person to lick down his hair.

Oh, you mean faux pas? Well, I've got two of them right here. Red wiggles them in the air. Very good, very good. Huh? Huh? But no, I'll be on my best. It's a king, after all.

Oh, I know you will be. Brandishing the parchment sent to you by royal decree You are admitted access to Citadel Felbar By way of its Rune Gate The main entrance to the underground city A Dwarven guard peels off from his gate duties To take you direct to the council chambers Wow

This is nothing like anything we've been before I mean Mirabar was a feat But look at this place Jack look at it Yeah it's very cool Just the history in the walls man And we're going right to the council chamber. This is like not everybody gets to see this. No. I feel like in like my mind, this is like a government building. Like this is like like like, you know, like a king's castle. It's a combo. It's a

live workspace. Yeah. As you follow along behind the guard, you are treated to the marvelous sites of the citadel. Past the main entrance gates, a series of barracks are carved out of the mountain's stone. Their terraces look down on you and bridges span above you several stories high. past the barracks a massive set of wide stairs climbs up into the brazier-lit upper city with welcoming archways on either side of the staircase opening into buildings beyond you are led upwards losing track of the number of steps you climb and you pass the dwarven citizens of the fortress as you ascend a man carrying a bolt of cloth leading children a woman with a tall braided hairstyle marching impatiently down the stairs as if late for some mere and the archways reveal scenes of Dwarven life in vignette as you pass. That lady should slow down. You don't want to trip on these stairs, eh? And Red like nudges Mari. And she just kind of gives a little shrug. Yeah. And Red kind of hangs back for a second with Mari and just kind of leans over to her and says,

Is everything okay? You've seen a little quiet the last few days. Is there something on your mind? Mari has this sort of, this, this drawback to thoughts of home, thoughts of being deep within nature, being within the small temple that she used to go to for Eldas and, and she goes, I'm good, I'm fine. Okay. All right. Doren looking very proud following right behind the gate guard Looks back and almost flinches for a second Be careful, you don't slip and fall Don't embarrass me in front of my dwarves

But you know, I don't, I don't embarrass me in front of my dwarfs. Like it's like fell bar I mean somebody's fallen But like very proud You can see the pride in Doren's walk You know in the way he stands Just everything about him is very very proud And he kind of looks back and he says,

You know, not everyone gets to be escorted to the king, you know. In fact, and Red sort of like coughs and tries to draw the attention of one of the guards leading them. He's just like, how many non-dwarven people come to the Citadel? Almost none. Oh. I might be the first Tabaxi ever here, Red whispers to Jack. Could be. I should leave a mark somewhere, carve into one of the...

Wait till we're invited to do that. It's like when you go to the pyramids and there's like a bunch of fucking graffiti everywhere. I'll leave a lock on one of the pillars. The other guard's like, Citadelfeld bar has been occupied by orcs twice in its long, long history. Yeah, Tabaxis don't like dwarves, so we went there. Don't worry. He like shoots you a weird look.

Oh, I'm at Tabaxi. Did I not make that clear? Oh, I didn't think you weren't. an ork. Oh, good. Phew. Not there's anything wrong with that. Orcs are wonderful, wonderful.

Not the ones that occupied this place, of course. I mean, assuming that you dwarfs are racist the way that Doran used to be. Not racist, but like against speciesist. I'm going to go walk with Doran. Just before he catches up to him. Past the staircase and its flanking neighborhoods, you're brought to a room that, with the crank of a lever, moves upward through a shaft and deposits you in a wide hallway, leading to a regal chamber shot through with beams of sunlight from clever hidden vents. The far end of this chamber

boasts a pair of marble thrones atop a raised platform and flanked by rows of columns. The thrones are empty. But off to one side, a male dwarf with short red hair and beard stands in response to your entry and moves to greet you. Hey, Doran Iron Fist! Red-handed Robin! Jack Page! Hail and well-met friends and general Nur-Girl Chaos Hammer engulfs you in a strong embrace that nearly breaks one or two of your ribs. Oh, wow. Hi. Oh, what a greeting. Good to see you. It's been a bit of time. This is our new traveling companion, Mari Man.

Did you trade the clerican? Yeah, he died. Oh. Yeah. He returned his soul. I'm sorry. And the sweet slip of a girl? What's your name, miss?

Whim! Our traveling companion, our sorcerer, really? And Red sort of taps Wim on the shoulder. Wim just does like a little wave. Ah, so you've got my letter then. Oh, we did. I'm glad. It was a coin toss, honestly, whether you're here or there in the area at all.

I should say, we don't go by the Nightstone Four anymore, and I'm sure you can understand why. We're Red's rovers now. Oh, I see. And if you forget, it's because you used our name to sort of fulfill your nefarious needs. Listen, I'm... Sorry about that. It's all right. I appreciate you apologizing.

Red turns around and scratches Chaos Hammer's name off a list that says enemies. To kill. The K's like backwards. Mari's the next one. Just slowly turns around. She's standing there. Yeah, well, after everything that happened in Jalenthar, I thought it was in my best interest to turn myself into the king. I'm proud of you.

He wasn't too pleased either. I can imagine. I'm not proud of what I did. Well, The Knights. Doron sort of shakes his hand. It's the honorable thing to do. Hopefully, it looks like it turned out well for you, though.

Yeah, a promotion. Yeah, funny thing, that. Sounds like a very forgiving king and queen. Not to begin with. No queen, actually. Citadel Adbar just as King Harnav. I was actually one of the hearings in King Harnoth's presence when, Would you believe it?

An attempt was made on his life. No way. Oh, God. Yeah. A couple of guards took up arms against him, screaming in some screechy language that I'd never heard. I managed to help protect Harnoff by strangling one of them with my shackles. I jumped on him and I took him to the ground.

That's what you do it, Hale's hammer. I should say so. Tornisor glances back at red. Maybe it was the black tongue. Hmm. The doctite, but no. Even better. Two glances, that just say that.

But I think that's so funny, because the fact that he does it, just to, like, show, oh, I know things. Oh, you've been reading my biography. Thank you. Anyway, that gesture combined with having learned my lesson and my vow to serve and whatnot, got me out of prison and on this new quest.

So here I am. But I can see now that the, way I was doing it before isn't the right way of going about things. Guerrilla warfare is hardly the way to win a war. Look, all things considered, you were stuck sitting on your hands, and for better, for worse, you were trying to do something to help. And I think that is what all of us, at least at first, when we met you, was the biggest takeaway.

So I think it's good that you've made General, and Red sort of patsum and does an awkward salute. Is this how the dwarfs, you know, it doesn't matter. And I think that's why. we have a friendship deep down, despite our differences. Any sort of nods at you, Doran? At times, we've also fought alongside each other as well, so... Mm-hmm.

I'm sorry to say that you've missed the council, actually, such as it was. Oh, damn. Well... By a couple of days. I told you we shouldn't have stopped for Raspberry Scones. It seemed like a nice idea at the time. It'd been raining for days. Yes, well, it cost us meeting the king and queen.

Sorry, I'm sorry. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not too bothered by it. You see, politics and these sort of things, or never my, or never my thing. You look good, though, Doran. I like what you're done with your hair. Oh, well, thank you. You know. He scrubs a finger through his short beard, and he goes,

I'm still growing mine out after what that fucker, Mokier did. to me. That's right. Well, look, we missed them, but clearly we were summoned here for a reason. Can you fill us in on why we're here? Yeah. You know what? Let's go somewhere a little bit less stuffy.

He sort of cast his eyes around a little bit. What do you say? Sure. Red says, eyeing the throne, wishing he could sit on it. Yeah, let's go somewhere. Let's go somewhere for a brew. That's what I was thinking. There's a bar around the

corner that's actually attached to the temple. I don't know if you guys want to go hoist a few. Yes, of course. That's where we'll go. It's your city, you know better than us. I mean, it's not my city, but I've been here a few times before. Let's do it. Yeah. That sounds

interesting. Red sort of hangs back with Jack for a second as they walk, and he's like, but this is like totally dwarven, right? Like when we were in Mirabai, it was like, human dwarven. Are they going to have seats that suit us? We'll make it work. Um, you know, Doran sits in in seats that we sit in all the time.

They're, it's not, you know. Yeah, but like, the extra footer. What if all the cups are really small? You look around and Wim's not with you. She is, she is enacting the instinct that Red had. She's slowly walking toward the back of the room. Whim! She doesn't hear you because she's deaf.

Damn it! Red runs over and, like, gets in front of her. She's got a look. like someone who's seen a slice of pie. Red looks past her shoulders at the other sleeve and he's like, you take the queen throne, I take the king throne.

And then he turns around and runs to the king throne. She runs over with you and sits down for a second and she does the little like, how do you do? Top of the morning. God, I wish cameras were invented. Doran touches this out of the corner of his eye and just gives a big eye roll and a half.

Didn't I just tell these guys not to do this? Yeah, Dorn, you're a follower of Morden, right? You're going to love this place. Get over here. Get over here. I'm carving it really small. Don't worry. Red was here.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah. Well, I do. All right, let's go. And, yeah, Red and Wim jumped down and run up over. All right, fine. And catch up.

Red and Wim joined the others. Perfect. Nothing happened. See, I'm sure we can find a seat here that fits, Red. Don't even worry about it. So true, so true. And the five of you follow Chaos Hammer through the dimmed.

thinly lit streets of Citadel Feltbar. 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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Caspian. Celeste Jedlich. Charles. Christopher, Clockwork Phoenix, Colin Burckhardt, Crow, David Shaw, Eldridge Unicorn, Eli Davis, Emerson Forsberg, Aaron Lightning, Famo, Gabby, Tao, Gareth Bradshaw, Haley, Hyde, Izzy, Jack, J.D., Jellybean, Josh Galusha, Joshua Nance, Joy Robinson, Kara, Karen Duley, Cass, Kelly Fultz, Cochee, Lambda J, Lechrat, Lisanne Klechner, Liz, Lorelei Feldman, Luna de Maria, Machem Ophor, Manderpance, Marina Bennett, Merrick's Moon, Martina, Martina, Melinda Curley, Merlin, Minty, Moon, Name, Nibiya, Giga, Nick, Nick, D, Nikki, Knox the Nightshark, Oakland, Obie, Pan, Queen, Quinn, Rebita Naz cheese, Ruthan Reed, Trent, Scotty, Seer of Time, Shannon Waldner, Shank, Sinister Jones, Sray 96, Stab, Sunny, Tea Kettle, Tell, Vol Control, Vezed Katz, Katsuka Van Z. scarf, Waffle 427, Wanderfen, Rangelispie, and Zill Street. That's Liz. I want to thank you again all for listening and have yourself a great time. See you around the table. Who are we going to see again?

Oh yeah, no, no problem, Mari. I understand. Trust me. If there's anybody that forgets things, that's me. This is the King Harnoth. Nope. The Citadel, Adbar. No, no, it's no. Jack, why don't you fill her in?