Dice Shame - 2-129 | 'Seed of Doubt'

Episode Date: February 13, 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.

Their priests are The Holy Dwarven Diver I love a tower Well we're discovering a little bit Humanoid I don't know what you got the strongest one Exactly what I just say We're aligned Red more than we've ever been

Red would you like some water Head out first thing in the morning Oh you! You know what you're saying makes sense Yep yep That's sort of what Chaos Hammer was talking about last night Oh great I've been up for six hours just Well he just said we were going to be a big part of fixing the reordening I've already I've already seen what the stone giants can do

And I have no interest in this Whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on. We've all seen what the stone giants can do. That's why we need to stick together. That's why we need to be united. Right? Mari. Welcome back to Dyshame.

This is Season 2, Episode 129, Seed of Doubt. MVP this week is Nick Rosenberg. You might know the supremely talented Nick from her guest spots on the Invictus stream or from the podcast Ain't Slade Nobody. We are so lucky to count her among the listeners of Disham and love that she's sharing this journey with us. You're the best, Nick, and you're this week's MVP. Congrats, Nick. Hope to hang out soon.

All right, should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Woo! Hamer leads you through the underhalls of Citadel Fellbar in search of a more intimate place to have a conversation that's not a throne room. Doran sort of sidles up next to Chaoshammer. So, by order of the king and queen, hey? Yeah, well, uh, I'll tell you everything, really.

It's just here. And he points at a gigantic temple to moor it in. And then, like, smashed up to the side of it is this bar. and it's like a bar for priests kind of vibe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's it called? It's called... Wait, wait, wait, wait, let's come up with it.

The Holy Dwarven Diver. I don't know. That's not bad. The Holy Dwarven dive. I was thinking Moradiner. The Mora diner. Oh, that's good. Moradin.

Poridin. Oh, that's good. Or Porid and Moridon. Poridin. Poridon is good, too. It's the temple of pour it in. Pour it in. Right beside the temple of Porridan.

But I don't know how punny dwarves are. Well, we're discovering a little bit. The temple of pour it in. They're priests are. You know what? If you guys go to Citadel Adbar, not so much, but Feldbar, that's how you differentiate between the two cities. Felt bar likes puns.

They got a sense of humor. Thank God. Yeah. I'm going to be honest, I feel like dwarven places aren't named. Like, I feel like there might be like a colloquial name, but like it would be like a big ruin above the door. That's it. It's called, like, three different things by seven different families.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I feel like if you got, like, a letter, it would say, like, the bar near my brother's house. Yeah, yeah, or, like, you know, Gondrad's place. That's actually really a good point. Because you never see signs. The bar, the bar beside the temple. This is the bar? They've got a place like this in, uh, in mirror bar.

But this one, it doesn't say anything. What are you talking about? There's no sign here. Oh, well, in the human towns, there's lots of signs everywhere. Yeah. The thing about dwarves, right, is that we don't need fucking signs everywhere to show us where to go. We know where we're going

and we go inside and we get where we need to be and that's what happens. Yeah, humans are so stupid. Dumb, dumb humans that die. Is Wim the only human human human? Surely there's a picture on the outside or something. Yeah, I guess. That's only half stupid, I guess.

Humanoid, we don't know if she's... We're all humanoid. Oh, listen, hey, Tabaxi culture is totally different. I mean, yeah, no names or signs either, but it's, you know, our cities and villages are more just like one giant family, so we don't even really use any currency when you're in town.

We're, like, pouring in the door, and there's this big, long table with some benches that Chaos Hammer gestures to. He's like, so you're saying there's no currency into varsy culture? Oh, no, tons, but see, we have markets. Places that aren't where we sleep or eat or live, places where you'd go for commerce,

but the places that we'd have food and things like that, those are sort of more what you would have as villages or towns. You know, our cities are large families, basically. Sounds terrible. Fascinating. Well, it sounds like a constant party. All right, should we have some ale?

You must be thirsty after your long journey. Absolutely. I would love an ale. A real Dwarbitail. I don't think we've ever had one. You're in for a treat, Red. Maybe just start with a small one, because these things can be a pretty strong.

I'll take an extra large, extra strong one. Thank you. All right, one boiler breaker. Gigantic flag and slides down the table towards you, Red. It's so big. Red, like, picks it up and takes a big sip. It's, like, so strong. It's, like, this thick, syrupy, tar-like drink.

Oh, my God. Oh, the dwarf would be a socks. I mean, it's strong, but it's gross. How is it carbonated and thick at the same time? I don't know what, you got the strongest one, Red. I just said strongest. say the most disgusting well that's the strongest

beer in the world Jack, Mary, what do you want? I want to, whatever they're brewing in Falbar let's try the local Yeah, two local treats Alright Another boiler breaker come See, we're a slide down the bar

It's all they serve here And Doran, you want something special Another boiler breaker come Or a specialty, sure We got the Whim orders of water And Chaos Hammer Settles down with also another

Boiler Breaker. Well, cheers. Cheers, everyone. Chaos, I'mo, it's really nice to see you again. Hey. It's nice to be here in Felbar by invitation from the King and Queen, I might add. I appreciate that you guys came all the way down here for me. It's a good sign for things to come.

I'll say that. Cheers. Cheers. So here's what it boils down to. Folks have been reporting fire giant sightings. to the northeast of here, northwest of Citadel Adbar. Now, King Morin and Queen Tifmel of Felbar contacted King Harnoth to discuss the matter.

And King Harnoth sent me here to do just that, considering I'm the obvious choice being that I've got a vendetta against giants of all kinds. And also probably to let me get a chance to stretch my legs a little bit. Jack snaps his fingers and calls up a map. of the region as he understands it and has sort of an area circled with the word iron slag

on it, sort of showing Fellbar and Adbar. You know what you're saying makes sense when we got a message from the Oracle at the spine of the world. She told us to travel east over mountains and snow to distant spires. There on a cold mountain side will find a village of yak folk

and below that iron slag, the forge of the fire giant Duke. So if you're saying fire giants in this kind of area, it all triangulates. Well, it sounds like you already know what's going on then I wish you had been at this council because maybe you could have given the king and queen a little bit more information but here, let me copy that map for a second

and he pulls out a scrap of parchment and a quill and he starts scribbling it down. Anyway, speaking with Morn and Tithmel, the king and queen, they've got a strong concern about what the giants might be up to in that region. Apparently, there's an ancient underground fire giant forge, known as iron slag, and he points down at Jack's map.

Cold for thousands of years, and the highnesses are suspect that the giants may be relighting it. I've been instructed to put a force together to go scout out the iron slag and see what the giants are up to and if possible put an end to it I can think of no better task force than yourselves as far as I know if there's fire giants to be meddled with then you're usually interested in getting

your hands dirty or is that still your business you goddamn right at ease they're definitely on the list mm-hmm uh yeah we'll be fine Dorn hears each of the reactions of his party members and considers for a moment the long hesitation

and the lack of confidence in Mari's voice. Yeah. Giving Red a quizzical look out of the side of his eye. Yeah, Red catches that look as well and sort of shares a knowing look with Dorn. Sort of recognizing that Mari is more and more seemingly pulling away from the idea of what's coming next. There's payment in it, of course.

Fellbar is a fortified tower in the silver marches where King Moran and Queen Tithmel have stated that I'm to use as my command post during this mission and should the giant threat be eradicated to their liking as a response to my efforts I can take permanent control of it going forward I can't think of anyone better to share the tower with than yourselves what do you say I love a tower as an archer I can shoot very far away

so towers are kind of like the best thing in the world for me I love a tower. I used to have a friend named Tim the tower. But I do get concerned about getting ahead of ourselves. This isn't exactly a small feat. One could say a giant feat. Fire giants. I mean, it's all coming together a little bit.

I don't know if we told you last time we met Chaos Hammer that we were on Stonebridge and we'd fought a fire giant. Got a little bit of intel from him. His name was Escaos, I think. He carried a rod of the Vonandad. Do you know what that is? Never heard of it. So as I understand it, and this was really my question,

maybe there's a dwarven scholar here who knows more about it. The Von and Dodd is this, like, fairy tale colossus. And Escaos wouldn't tell us where the fire giants were building it, but if there's a forge of something in these hills, it's starting to sound like some pieces are coming together. Colossus, that sounds pretty big. It's in the name. It's just, like, trying to keep as if he's in the conversation,

Although looking at him, you can clearly tell he's drunk. He's just like, that sounds really big. But he's like trying to be super serious. Well, if that's the case, Jack, that'll be very important information to bring back to the Citadel's. Would be good to confirm it for sure. So, what do you guys say? I say yes. Towers are wonderful.

And a tower would be really good. And we should, we'll do this thing. I think what Red is trying to say is, honestly, this was our next stop anyway. So to have, you know, someone as famous as the chaos hammer supporting us along the way, I think the team we're putting together is going to, you know, do our best at this. The best shot that we've got. That's exactly what I just said. Exactly.

That's what I'm saying. We're aligned, Red, more than we've ever been. Echo. Mari. Oh, boy. I, uh, I, I don't. Say what's on your mind? find. My path has taken forks, I did not expect. I set off from my home far from here to find

answers for some questions that I had, some concerns that I could not find in my own home, but paths are never straight. They always wind, they always twist. The water always moves. It must move or else you drown. And I've already, I've already seen what the stone giants can do and I have no interest to see. Oh, hold on, hold on. Look, we've all seen what the stone giants can do. That's why we need to stick together. That's why we need to do this. Look, look, let us, let us just slow things down for a second. Get some more information first. Look, we are the ones, with this reordining. We can't just...

Listen, Druid. Gotta understand that if you don't stick together as a team, you'll fall apart. Surely you understand that by now. Don't you? I do. Yeah, yeah. Don't let fear do the... God, this is strong.

Is anyone else find this strong? And Red kind of sticks his head back in his drink. So... Jack, what's this Vaughn and Rod? Uh, rod. Just before we get to that, how long of a walk would it take to get there? To scout them? Like, you know, Red looks at Chaos Hammer.

Chaos Hammer pulls up, um, a bookmark on his... It's a good question. We should ask our Ranger. Oh, you! Red like nudges you. I don't remember. Oh, if you're to take the tunnels through the mountains, it might take about five, five days. Oh, right. Or so.

And just to be clear, Chaos Hammer, you haven't had any scouts sent up to find the, what's the word? Stronghold? Yeah, thank you, Red, the stronghold. I'm drunk. Yeah. No, we would be the first. Starting to see what happened at Stenton Danlin's Peak here. That's funny

Yeah, it would take a couple days, Red All right All right And we have places to stay here Here Yeah, absolutely Actually, if you guys want to rest For the rest of the day

I can Show you to your lodgings Oh, we'll drink another And Jack has things That he'll mouth will want to say But then we'll go to the lodgings Oh boy It's been a long day

Hasn't it, Redd? Redd, would you like some water? Shut up, everyone. God, I'm on vacation. It's been a long travel for him. Yeah. Yeah. He's a bit cranky. What cranky.

Oh my God. Ask Chaos Hammer your questions. Why's everyone looking at me? Look at him. Fuck. So, Chaos Hammer, is it just us or have you got a bit of a squad together yourself that's coming with us? Some of the people who were part of the Knights of the Mithril Shield, the ones who, the ones who are loyal enough to me. I think I can still count on.

there's a backup force at Citadel Adbar that if you're not interested in the work, I can have my people take care of it. No, no, no, it's not a matter of interest. I think we're not exactly walking in there looking to defeat the entire giant stronghold. A smaller party would work better for this. If the mission is just find it, that's fair, yeah. We can rally the troops once we know where we're going. I think I can speak for all of us that we'll have a few more of these,

Delicious. Bone breakers. Boil and break you, darling. Red's in the background. He's like over by a few other dwarves that are like dancing. His paper this morning just said Red gets drunk and he's got to do it. Nice. I have no choice.

We'll have a rest here and then head out first thing in the morning. Question for you though, Chaos Hammer. Will you be joining us? Would you like me too? I don't think it will be necessary. In fact, it might be a better idea for you. to stick back and gather a party for when

we do decide to take on the stronghold once we come back with our findings. That's a good point. It'll take them some time to get from Ad Bar to Fell Bar. Although there are tunnel systems that connect the two strongholds, so it's faster than walking on the surface, that's for sure.

Something else you may want to consider. There is an issue with the Giants and this is not the only stronghold that we've had to walk into so we'd welcome help further down the road if they're willing to. There is some glory to be had here. And if you're mentioning it to some of the dwarves that we both know, that might be an encouraging thing.

I hear you, Doran. Unfortunately, at least at Citadel Adbar, King Harnaw is still pretty reticent to get his hands dirty. I think, and he casts his eyes down to where there's like a sticky, puddle of beer on the surface of the table. I think there's a sometimes a tendency for dwarves to

hide away in their mountains strongholds, knowing that they're safe from the rest of the world. And I'm ashamed to say, but I think until danger's right on our doorstep, sometimes people don't like to put themselves out there, if you know what I mean.

Oh. The old damn Faron. We all know. I hear you. I I mean, on the one hand, this is right in the backyard of Felbar and Adbar, but I guess if we got to find enough proof to motivate these dwarves to really get out the gates and Sally Forth and all that stuff, we can find that. That's what I'm saying.

This is a fact-finding mission, first and foremost, to make it clear that war is brewing. I firmly believe that. Red runs up the table. Darlane. is that a female dwarf or a male dwarf? Red points to a lamp. Um, that is time for you to get some rest, my friend.

Oh, good, it asks me to dance, and Red runs back over and picks it up. She's so hot. Ow! My queen! A server walks through the bar with a tray of honeyed buns, and, like, very pointedly offers them to Red so that he can get some food in his stomach. Oh, yeah. Red gobbles them down.

Mmm, delicious. Dawn, you said dwarven food was so fucking bland, but this is it? It says, like, really loudly told all the dwarves are. Five dwarves turn with murderous glare. I say it wasn't. This is all the priest dwarves, and they're like... General Chaos Hammer pays for your drinks and apologizes for the tabaxy, who's dancing his way through the bar. and shows you to your lodgings.

They are traditional dwarven rooms and kingly ones at that. Oh, and I just feel so stupid. First taboxi here, and I set the stage for all tabxies. It's a dumb thing. I'm so dumb. That's really cute. Red, red, red, red. You're not dumb.

We've all been there. Carlin, I want to give you inspiration for your commitment to a little bit, even though it is kind of stupid and definitely against your inclination. to try to find out information as a character. Hey, listen, four people asking questions is not as interesting as three people and one person doing some random shit. So thank you. I appreciate the reward.

Because I would have loved to ask a bunch of questions. I know you would have. And I'm going to tomorrow when I sober up. No, chaos hammer is going to be dead. Damn it. Yeah. The assassination caught up to him. But I accept the inspiration.

Thank you. What do you guys want your rooms to be like? I leave this up to the individual. Reds on the floor of whatever dorms. Doren's room is, so it's up to him. I kind of think that there's like these long share beds. Of course there are. That's what Dwarf's sleep is.

Continuing with the canon. That's where, like I wonder if Doren gets offered a traditional Dwarven room with Dwarven style sleeping arrangements. And then there's a caricature of what human beds look like somewhere. Oh, I love that. It's the Dwarvist stereotype of what surface dweller rooms look like. I don't know what that is necessarily.

I think you used it recently, the term cargo cult science. It's very much like something that they sort of. They don't understand, but they're like, they're super soft beds. Yeah. They're just like, they're not pillows, but they're like pillows carved out of stone. They're like, oh, they're like them soft. And it's just like stone that's all like wibbly and wobbly. Lumpy is soft at all.

It's like they're very, very small beds like as in opposition. Way too long. These people must be very tall. Humans are eight feet tall, right? Very like high off the ground too, right? Like it's like a middle, it's like a middle distance though. It's not quite a top bunk bed. It's not quite just a regular bed.

It's in the middle somewhere where it's just awkward at every level. It's just a tall bed. Humans sleep on their sides, right? So we don't need to make them that wide. Cool. So there's one for Doran in the big cuddled bed. And then there's one room with weird furniture

that looks like it's MC Escher. And... Wim excitedly has to take that. Wim is pumped about it and Mari probably stays with Wim. Well, I mean, it would be rude not to sleep in Whim's like, I'm a human. I sleep like this now.

Go for it. This feels right. This is my culture. Did the beer do this to me, or is this room really weird looking? It's very fascinating, architecturally. Either it's hitting me real hard or this bed is designed by someone who has never seen a bed before. Well, certainly not a human one. No.

All right, Wim's up there. Yeah, Wim's just swinging her legs on the top bunk, like almost falling off because it's too narrow. Yeah, Marry just gives her a thing. Thumbs up. Like, she gives you a thumbs up back. And gentlemen, you're all staying in Doren's room? Oh, yeah. Well, Red's already passed out on the floor.

Yeah. Honestly, it seems like the most comfortable option at this point. You spend a surprisingly restful night in Citadel Feldbar, despite the sometimes occasional sound of the forge hammers ringing at all hours. And awaken to find that breakfast has been delivered to the doors of your chambers. Morning, everyone! Red sits like bolt upright. Oh, good morning.

What a wonderful night. How you feeling, Red? Oh, great. I've been up for six hours, just moving around, doing some calisthenics. It's been really nice. You guys all talking your sleep. Doren, you said Mari's name for some reason in a weird voice. Shut up, Red.

Anyway, I'm thinking, here's some breakfast. I ate mine, and Red, like, hands betrayed everybody. Thank you. Yeah, it's... Everyone only got half an egg. I think that's how the dwarfs do it. It's like a half egg breakfast. No honey bun.

Four honey buns in I'm just imagining it's four eggs But each one has half bitten out of them I'll tell you It's nice it's nice sleeping in a bed After traveling for a straight Couple of weeks there You know

Whim just barely makes her way Into the room Where you guys are She's wrapped in the blanket from her bed All her hair is like plastered up on the one side Thumbs up She gives you a slow thumbs up Hey you are goofball

This is Dwarve and Coffee She sniffs it and sets it aside It makes it like a yucky face Good because it's not I made it myself So Jack I was thinking You brought up something last night I think it was in a blur of dancing and screaming But something about looking at the library

For the Von and Dodd I think that's a pretty wise call I mean finding someone who knows something Even if there's any reports of yak folk in the area That's going to at least point us in a direction right Like there's a... I'm with you on that I think that's a wise call

additionally chaos hammer you know had a lot of insight into them you know wanting to bring us up to iron slag but i i definitely think before we leave we should have a game plan of if we get there and we need to act immediately how to get in touch with him so maybe just a quick tete with him before we had out this afternoon you know yeah i mean i think we could probably have a letter ready to go and get it sent you know any time but you know if the army's take another five days to organize. Well, no, that's the point. He's got to be ready. On the other hand, if the army isn't going to move till they have the proof in hand, and that's the whole driver here, like, he doesn't have a lot of credibility. Exactly. We don't know these dwarves. And here lies the question,

you know, perhaps the five of us, if we get there and find it, you know, want to take this on ourselves. Don't get me wrong, it's a difficult task, but, you know, we are the ones destined with this and for better for worse you know I feel like that well when we moved through the stone giant's stronghold it it definitely felt

like destiny being fulfilled in some way and perhaps it is worth a smaller force even the way we did at the stone giants to take it on I definitely hear you and if we get there and that's the right answer but big picture wise like these dwarves

are not the whole of the Sword Coast is getting messed up by this giant ordaining being out of place. There's all kinds of things going crazy. We need people motivated and activated and not, you know, what's the word for it, Doran? Oh, no, you're talking

about it. The y'all damn fairn. Not stuck at home, and, you know, we need people ready to go to war because there's more there's more giants than there are five of us. Right, right, but, but, but Jack, look, the cloud giant didn't pick up every person in Féroon and say

This is your task, you know? He picked us up and said, it's your job to fix the reordering. Doesn't that mean something? Doesn't it mean? Well, he just said we were going to be a big part of fixing the reordening. He didn't say we were going to be the only part in fixing the reordination. Right, but, I don't know. Back me up, Doran.

Well, you've got it backwards there, Jack. Yildoon Ferrin basically means guard home. You hunker down. You put up your battlements. In fact, that's why dwarves like us exist, because there's dwarves that seek out battle, and then there are dwarves that stay home and pray for it to come to them. That's sort of what Chaos Hammer was talking about last night. Yeah, and that's exactly my point.

I think there's more homes than just the dwarven ones, and y'all are very capable people. You've gone to war recently in your lifetime. You've got, as a culture, as a people of the north here, and especially with giants in your backyard, this is a chance to get you out of guard home and into guard everyone, into like help your common folks kind of... Yeah.

Well. And how many dwarves did you lose in that war there, Dorn? Listen, let's not get into that. I'll say this, though, Jack. It is one thing to convince a donkey to do something you don't want it to do. That's a hard task. But try to convince a dwarf to do something he's not going to do. Try to convince a dwarf that he's not going to yield him fair.

And you've got a task on your hand. We can't be expected to be the only ones stopping everything as it happens. That's what Red's saying is that we were chosen to do this. No, but other people need to be involved. Other people are. They're protecting the homes, the city to the east. That's way in the mountains, you know, grud hog. It can be involved.

Sometimes the smaller of the party makes the greater the force. I don't know that sounds a bit backwards, but... That's what I'm saying. It's important to understand that there's something in battle about being nimble about being able to turn on a dime? I think you're talking tactically, and I understand that, Doreen, in a given fight in a particular situation, there might be a small tactical advantage. But if you've got five battles and only five of us, or ten battles or a hundred battles, and you can only

fight one of them, do you want to lose 99? Or do you want a chance at winning them because you showed up to participate? Because it's not five, it's 500. Listen, I'm not saying that, you know, facing five of us against 5,000 that doesn't make any sense but what I am saying is that there's a time in place. We have to find the people that are going to join us in that battle when the time comes

but now is not the time. Wim points at you Doran she points at you when you say now is not the time and then she makes little walkie legs on her hand and then she opens her eyes like we're just going to go and take a little.

Wim is right. Look let's not put the horse before the chicken. We need to just do this one leg at a time. Absolutely. Let's all head to the library then. I think we could all use a look over some of the texts and maybe we can find some information that will help. I think I'd rather go and talk to some of the locals and see if anybody can give us any idea. Maybe there's been sightings. Maybe there's no pathways. Ah, what the hell? I'll join you two then. Fair enough. Plus, I'd love to see more of this lovely citadel. Good luck at the library, guys. Yeah, remember those hints the Oracle gave us. See if you can track an anything down for that.

We'll meet you with you guys soon. Let's say at noon. Mari, Wim, and Jack, you stand in front of a severe-looking old dwarf lady who regards you over the top of her square spectacles. Now make sure that you don't upset any of the piles or damage any of the delicate pages. Yeah, and she's, like, looking at this stack that just towers over her. Unsure of how, like, a dwarf even did this, unless they had, like, several. ladders. Stirty ladders for sure. Yes, good ladders. Jack, do you have a guide or maybe some runes that we should be looking for? I've realized now a roadblock to our plan. Is it that we don't

speak to a dwarven? Yes, yes, that's the problem. I got a little magic we can maybe use, but let's give it a shot. Armed with the ability to comprehend languages and a little bit of shared telepathy as we start looking for words like Von and Dodd or Colossus or Adamantine or fire giant, all that kind of good stuff, we start searching the stacks. After an hour maybe, Jack, you come across a tomb that seems most likely to provide you with some information that you're seeking. This is an account of Astoria. Astoria is the giant kingdom thousands and thousands of years ago that stretched across Fyroon. It gives a map of what the writer estimates the giant's territory was and their approximation of how many years ago it used to be.

We're talking 30,000 years ago, give or take. So this knowledge is a little bit shaky at best, filled with a lot of phrases like, it is purported that, and I suppose it to be. So it's a little bit circumstantial as far as evidence goes. I mean, I think the only thing that's helping Jack puzzle through it is in that spire of Nethril in the north. We found the lost scrolls of Sabriel, which was a book written in Elvish, that tried to piece together eight ancient scrolls that talked about the cloud giants of Astoria and their bygone empire.

And they'd dated everything 40,000 years ago. And so now it's that question of like, whose truth and whose sources do your trust and all of that good ancient history kind of judgment call you got to make. Yes. And although Jack is in possession of many wondrous abilities, the ability to read and absorb information, it happens no faster. than the general population. Maybe your reading speed is slightly better, but you're not able to digest an entire book in one sitting, unfortunately.

With the time that you have in the library, you're able to gather that throughout much of Astoria's history, resident giants competed in a variety of ways to try to appease the gods. Very similar to what you see is happening now with the ordaining, where giant kind is essentially warring with itself remotely, trying to impress the deities, either through eating everything

in the countryside or destroying all small folk or whatever the fire giants are up to. Additionally, you learn a little bit about the warring years the author calls them. This is when dragons came to Fyroon, or what is now known as Fyroon, and a little bit about the war of a thousand years. during which the giants were forced to set aside artistic pursuits in favor of staying alive against the dragons. This was kind of the origin of the conflict between dragonkind and giant kind. And within this text, you find a mention of the colossus called the Von and Dodd. Apparently, it had been destroyed during the 1,000-year war. and that's all you learn.

Just imagine trying to be in the kind of people who want to rebuild something from 30, 40,000 years ago. Even for an elf, that's a long, long time. I don't even know how to comprehend that length of time. Doran and Red, the two of you have wandered around asking merchants and children, people in the town square, random passers-by, if you have any information about giants and where they might be,

and no one seems to really know what you're talking about. In fact, a couple of people have given you kind of alarmed expressions, both at the audacity that this strange, furry, tall man would be speaking to him and also at the concept that there might be a horde of giants gathering at the doorstep. Maybe they saw me last night at the bar I don't think we're going to get any information about the iron slag Maybe chaos hammer was right But you know we got to tour around

It's a beautiful citadel my god Red sort of looks up wide-eyed I was just kind of hoping that there was someone Who's spoken to someone Who's heard from someone Who's experienced one of these attacks in the north And they could say yeah you know Go north east five and a half days

And there we are Hey a hundred percent Problem is these dwarves they're very tight liped. They don't like to share anything they don't have to, you know. Although I've gotten pretty good at sneaking out when they got something more. Chaos Hammer was an open book, admittedly. Open books or not,

you never really can't tell enough about people, can you? What do you mean? Oh, you think Chaos Hammer is... No, no, no, I just mean about anybody, really. I mean, who knows what's going on behind, uh, you know, in people's minds, like, I don't know. Have you

noticed anything about Jack or Marry lately? I mean, you know, Jack and I have always butted heads. There's nothing new there. I did notice that him and Marry spoke a lot back at the Humbrot household about something, but... And Marie is... Well, I mean, yeah, she seems a little more, I don't know, disconnected, maybe. I don't know. What do you notice?

No, no, nothing. No, I just, you know, like, just more curious if you noticed anything about attitudes or uh you know just really anything different all right look don't let's cut the shit you and i have always been different than the other two um yeah you know the way we feel about this quest the way we feel like we can tackle this just us not needing all these other people but yeah look i've noticed it as well marie she feels like she's pulling away a little bit you know yeah I've uh noticed it too almost as though she's becoming more and more doubtful I mean look at the end of the day she wasn't part of the original four that Zephyros picked up in his

castle and gave the quest to she may not have been part of the original four but that doesn't mean she's not committed to our team now does it I don't know If she's having cold feet I wish she said something I'm starting to feel like we can't count on her Yeah that's what I'm saying You know and I think

She should have just come out and told us About it right from the get-go I mean I know she spoke a lot to Jack About her magic getting unruly And I know what happened in the woods Really shook her when she tore that guy apart Maybe she's

Let the fear get to her Knowing what she has to do to become what we need her to be. Well, maybe it's just too much. When did you feel her starting to pull away? When we entered the city, she had a weird moment when you mentioned that. Hopefully this was about the Giants. And I spoke to her on the road, and she had this long passive look,

and then kind of said she was fine. And then obviously last night at the bar, you know, I was tipsy, but she had her reservations. I guess I shouldn't have bowled through them, but... But it's more than... that. You know, I've always felt that Mari was working against this current, this adventure we've been on, you know, trying to find ways to cope when it just felt easier for us. I don't know about working against it, but certainly she's had her struggles fitting in. I don't know.

do you think do you think she can be trusted to have our back what do you think I don't know honestly we only crossed paths with Maori because she ran away from a life

that she was afraid of she had done a terrible thing by accident of course and couldn't deal with it and left and now she's in a new situation where she's having a tough time dealing

and... Yeah. I don't know. I guess a part of me worries that there's too much fear in her. She... She seems to be the kind of person that when things get rough,

she runs away. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about that. And I'm thinking you're concerned about it too. I think so. I think so. How are we going to talk about this? Look, we're not going to.

At the end of the day, I don't want to twist Mari's arm anymore to stay. You know, maybe she's right. This isn't her quest. She's got to do what she's going to do, and we just have to accept that. In the meantime, you and I can stay true to one another. Stay mindful of what's coming. We got this. Yeah.

Whatever comes, you and I will roll with those punches. All right. So thanks, Reddite. Yeah. Anyway, it's nearly noon. Let's swing by the library. Let's get out of this place. As Doran and Red make their way back to the library to pick up Marie and Jack,

they see Whim from a distance. She's sitting on the steps, like, so bored of being in the library. Whimmy! She stands up and huffs towards you, like, this was the most boring thing I've ever done in my whole life. Should have come with us. and Redd like pulls out a secret bunny hat for her. Here you go.

It was a free sample. You said that it was called a bunny hunt. It's a bunny hun. It's like a honey bun, but they turn it inside out. No, they just, they put ears on it. It looks like a little bunny. It's inside out. No.

Honey bun, bunny hun. She holds in her two hands like, it's too cute to eat. I'll eat it then. Red rips off an ear and eats it. Excellent. And then he gets sad, looks up his own ear. Oh no. Rips off the other ear and then shows it to you like, look, Red.

It doesn't have ears either. Thanks, Wimmy. all right let's get out of here and leave the nerds if we don't get them out they'll never leave red goes over and knocks and says last call for leaving yeah okay you're back we're on our way yep yep it's a good dinner bell all right look we didn't get anything obviously but we know the direction we're on with more information let's go we got five days of travel ahead of us and I'm nervous for what we might find there yeah it's it's uh I can't wait to see it but it's not going to be good Let's lead the way, Red.

Red heads towards the exit. And the five of you stride confidently towards Iron Slag. All right. 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 Absolute Ocelli behavior. Adam Frey. Abril A.K. Trash Panda. Alicia Andrews. Alicia D. Amanda Nicole.

Andrews Babos. Anna Lena. Aspen Whispers, Atholagoth, Autumn, Axel, Bean Fiend, Bird, Blacklight Riot, Caspian, Celeste Jedlick, Charles, Christopher, Clockwork Phoenix, Colin Burkhart, Crow, David Shaw, Eldridge Unicorn, Eli Davis, Emerson Forsberg, Aaron Lightning, Famo, Gabby, Tau, Gareth Bradshaw, Haley, Hyde, Izzy, Jack, J.D., Jelly Bean, Josh Galusha, Joshua Nance, Joy Robinson, Kara, Karen Duley, Cass, Kelly Foltz, Cochi, Lambda J, Leta J, Lechrat, Lissanne Klechner, Liz, Lorelei Feldman, Luna de Maria, Machem Ofor, Manderpance, Marina Merrick's Moon, Martina, Melinda Curley, Merlin, Minty, Moon, Name, Nibiya, Giga, Nick D, Nicky, Knox the Nightshark, Oakland, Obie, Pan, Queen, Quinn, Rabida Naz cheese, Ruthanne Reed, Trin, Scotty, Seer of Time, Shannon Waldner, Schonk, Sinister

Jones, S Ray 96, Stab, Sunny, Tea Kettle, Tell, VOL control, VZ Katzuka Vanskarp, Waffle 427, Wanderf, Wanderf, Rengelispie, 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. Hey, yeah.