Dice Shame - 2-134 | 'Don't Look Back'

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Red, Dorin, Whim & Tamiil head to the only person who knows anything in Deadsnows to see if they can track down the escaped slaves.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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 friend Nic 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.

You didn't eat that, did you? I might have tried a little bowl. Oh, Red. Well, she's been here for a while, Red. You are so nothing to me. Um, right, off we go. Do you realize this was held by Thorough Flamed Time? Love this girl's color scheme, just want to say it.

Of course, we don't have an appointment. You gave a bad name for our crime. I thought that storm was rather quick. To line the pockets of the already filthy rich. Is this supposed to be a tough crowd? Or is this a fancy crowd? This is a fancy crowd. Okay.

Oh, fancy crowd. Astute, darn. Well, I had another idea if it was a tough-looking crowd. Why love playing Dungeons and Dragons with you? Welcome back to Dight Shame. This is Season 2, Episode 134. Don't look back. MVP this week is Henry Guthrie. Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Henry! Henry is turning eight years old today. We love you, Henry. We love you. Also, InvictusCon is this weekend. If you're not a part of the Discord, make sure you join. We'll be running games, panels, RPGs,

a whole slew of fun activities. You don't want to miss it. Hopefully, we'll see you there. All right, should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Woo! So, an astute listener may have noticed that there is a new voice on the podcast. Yeah.

Nick Rosenberg, welcome to Dyshe. Hello, it is such a pleasure to be here. Welcome. Truly so excited. It's a pleasure to have you here. Oh, thank you. I don't want to introduce you, the player, at the same time as we were introducing Tamil because we get all jumbled up.

But I would love to hear a little about you, have the audience get familiar with you, and just say hi. Oh, amazing. Yeah. Hi. This is the best thing because I always blank. I should probably have something, like, written down. And Joe, especially because she didn't give you any warning. Any warning at all.

No, I love it because it keeps me, it'll keep me honest. Like, I can't have, you know, I have to just what's in the moment, what's real, what's true in my heart. I think when Harlan introduced himself. First, it was. I'm human and I'm drinking a beer. Oh, yeah. And Alex said he was an insurance broker. Correct.

And he still is. Yes, hi. I'm Nick. I'm here. I am so excited to be here. I'm a friend of the podcast. I had the absolute pleasure of sitting at one of Harlan's tables for the 8th Slade Nobody podcast where we played The Waking Children, which was such fun.

I still have such wonderful memories, especially of that edit where we were trying to be all serious. And then when someone did something stupid, you just drop in that like, do, do, do. Like almost like a circusy music. It warms my heart to think of it. Yeah, I'm in San Francisco, California, which is normally sunny, but right now is windy and rainy. What else? I have a dog who started doing this weird thing today where she's farting very loudly.

Oh, that's so funny. Nice. Oh, I see what it is. I see how it is. Just in case something comes through the edit, you're like, guys, I need to lay the groundwork. The dog's farting. It was the dog. Is her name Blueberry?

Yeah. My dog's name is Blueberry. That's amazing. Why? Is it just, do you love blueberries? Why? That's such a... Well, when you look at a dog, you're like...

I mean, that's an aggressive question, frankly. I don't like the tone. Explain yourself. Why? Why not strawberry? You have to tell me. Goodness, great. I don't even actually remember how...

I think it was just kind of throwing out a bunch of names. I do really love blueberries. I moved to California, and then, you know, she was... She became part of my life shortly after that, and, you know, there's a lot of good produce. here in California. She was almost named avocado. Almost. But then that was a little too on the nose.

Two of cute, like, nicknames for her. Blobs? I mean, like all pet owners, yeah, there's, blobs is actually one that I never thought of, but everybody who is kind of who's come in contact with her has called her blobs, yeah. But again, like all pet owners, I have a million names,

some of which have nothing to do with blueberries. Right, right, right. I mean, I think I call her Bubba. Bubba. Bubba. Yeah. That's adorable. And you're like a professional voice actor.

You're doing all this kind of stuff and you've been putting your heart and soul into it and it's fantastic. You do an amazing job. Oh, that's so nice to hear. Yeah, I love actual play. I think this is one of my favorite mediums for storytelling. And it's definitely one of my favorite

just kind of activities in general. I love character work. I've done a little DMing myself, a little bit of keeping for Call of Cthulhu, but nothing beats just playing a character, getting deep in the paint. on the character, you know what I do. Do you remember the first RPG you ever played? Oh. The first, the first RPG I ever played was D&D. I have a bunch of college friends who kind of all got

scattered to the winds. And as a way of keeping in touch with each other, one of them was just like, hey, do you guys want to play? And he DM'd, he started DMing for us. And we played that game for, I think, almost two years, almost like every week for almost two years. Yeah. What level did you get to? Well, the problem is that I'm multi-classed, and so I feel like we probably got to, we either got to 12 or 13, but I was one level. My, like, my highest level was less than that, anyway, character. I totally, listen, I'm the same, I'm the same way.

I always, every time, before this game, I would always do multi-class. But because the only way you can get that level 20, like, boon, and the Ranger one's not even that good, but because it's the only way you could do it is sticking with one class, I've been like, no, I'll just stay the one. I'm going to regret it one. kill red before he gets to level 20 don't you go you're going to be so sad i can't kill red it's my fair then you can multi-class with your next character yeah that's true you always need to have a backup character just in the back of your mind

i do yeah what's your backup character derr does that red backwards i'm der you have to speak backwards the whole time though it's going to be very I was a long-lost cousin of Doran. D.Sabbatipa. I was going to ask when your first game of D&D was. But you said it was shortly after college. Well after college. It was 2016.

Oh, wow. Nice. Your first game of Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah. I'm pretty new. No, the same with us. I mean, we're all relative late bloomers. I think Alex played far before any of us.

Yeah, I'm pretty much better than all of you now. But he's so much worse than everyone that it balances out. I played in my early 20s, so that's about 15 years ago. Oh, okay. Well, then, and then it would be me, because I think I probably, I played a bullshit game maybe 2013, which didn't count, and then I would say I started proper 2015. Oh, my gosh, I fully looked at all of your avatars on the screen in the eyes and lied, straight up lied to you.

Because actually the first game of D&D I ever played was when I was in, like, third grade. one of my older brother's friends tried to run a game for us. See? Yes, tried. Well, because the thing is like, I don't know what everyone else was doing, but I do know that I had no idea how to play. No one explained it to me. This is my older brother and his like weird-ass friends.

And so all I had done was flipped through the monster manual and just looked at pictures of the monsters that I really thought looked cool. And I was like, yeah, I'll play one of these, not understanding anything. And we never even got that far because I do remember that the guy, who was trying to run the game got so frustrated he was yelling and we were in the library

and they literally kicked us out I don't know why you had to bring your sister alone they kicked us out of life I feel like most first D&D games are one of two they're either that

or kind of mediocre I don't think I've ever met someone that was like the first game I ever played blew my mind and it's never been good since no it's usually terrible I've told the story in the past

but like I was probably 10 11 or 12 And there was a couple guys in my scout group that played D&D and we're all into it But we never really sat Like there was a few times we sat down with some six-sided dye And like made it kind of what it was But it was never like from the book

Yeah But it was because he had read it But didn't have it with us when we went on our camping tricks It was playing pretend Anyways a long story short is like You know we all have our experience And it's kind of it's kind of interesting Playing proper D&D though

Is this proper? I think this is proper. Not the way that we do it. Official. Why do you like Dungeons and Dragons specifically? Ooh, I think that we actually, I like Dungeons and Dragons because I like the growth arc aspect of it. I really like the building on characters and the relationship, the interpersonal relationships of the party. I love when somebody adopts an NPC and, you know, then there's like, there's, you know, connection that develops there.

Yeah, and there's just something about the heroic nature of it. I mean, it's in terms of escapist fantasies, actually being able to affect positive change in a world is kind of the best it gets, right? Totally, especially nowadays. Yeah. Needed so much nowadays. I can be a hero. I can solve problems. I can change someone's life.

Yep. I can own a home. But also there's just something Some of the biggest laughs I've ever had Some of the longest fits of Side-splitting laugh I've ever had Have happened in D&D games That's really nice to learn a little bit about you

Yeah and I'm so glad that we get to introduce you To our audience And mostly that we just get to have fun together Playing pretend Yeah Should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Yay!

Through the early evening drizzle, you make your way to the center of town. There is a town square, and there are six stalks in the town square. One of them is occupied by someone who is unfortunately serving their punishment in this drizzle. across from the stockade, a grand theater. The lights are on inside, and the upper levels are where Carilla Gemstar calls home. Oh. As they pass by the stockade,

Timil says, Roger, nods to the guy in the... Tamil! And then points to the grand theater there. Above that. Red, like, walks up to the three of you that standing in front, you know, finishing the last of his stew. And he's like, no, it looks really, it looks really nice. No.

I can tell that she does. Oh, Red. Oh, Red. You didn't eat that, did you? No. Is that from the Kniveshilt? A little bit? Yeah, it's just a little, I might have tried a little bowl.

He, like, hides the second hole behind his head. Red's going to have to do that thing where dogs have to, like, drag their butt on the carpet. Boots scoot, just scoot and boot right across Corrillas. The boot scoot, big. Very fancy carpet. Okay. Um, I like, I don't want to pry, but, um, why have you been here before? Well, she's been here for a while, Red. I'm sure she's visited with people that she's met. Yeah.

I spent a lot of time at Al Hamur. It is, it is her pet project, and she has very strict rules about behavior inside its walls. Oh, were you reprimanded for bad behavior? Um, you could say that. Hmm. Red sort of, like, gives a cautious eye to Tamil, like, believing that's half the story. But he's like, hey, right, right, cool, hey, no worries, whatever, no stealing. I go, oh, God, my stomach is painful. Must have been something I ate yesterday.

Damn berries. All right, uh, lead away, Tamil. I mean, this is your town more than ours. As we leave this dockade, Durenzura turns back and says, uh, see you later, Roger. Roger winks at you. It's suggestive. You're going to want to be careful, especially if you have any issues about being touched. Right, off we go.

Walks up to the front door. You head up these wide stone steps to a red set of wooden double doors. There are braziers flaming blue flame on either side of these doors. And underneath the braziers, there are two doormen. Are they shirtless? No. For some reason, I imagine her having, like, shirtless, like, really hunky boys. You don't know what I mean?

They are very hunky. I don't know. Are they doing a strip show in there? No, but, like, her vibe seems like, I don't know. I, like, I imagine when we meet her, she's going to be on, like, a shes lounge and, like, another shirtless hunky boy is going to hand her, like, great. I don't know. The vibe.

Draw me. These doormen give you all once over, and they say, uh, No weapons inside. Oh. Come on. What are we going to do? Especially not you. Sure.

Surely you wouldn't part a young tabaxi with his walking bow, would you? Red Lake takes the long bow off. We've heard that a thousand times. Exactly that. It's always a reference. That's Red turns it to me on door. They get references, eh? Yeah, Red leans his long bow against the wall.

Yeah. There's special weapon racks on the inside. It's like a coat check kind of vibe because this isn't an adventurer town where they like lock up your weapons for you and they give you a ticket and stuff. It's all very over the counter. Oh, nice. True. I'll see you soon, Astha. Red kisses his bow and puts it down.

You hear Ork Splitter. No! Yeah. Doran's looking really, uh, looking really uncomfortable, but leaving Ork Splitter here. He's, he turns to the doorman. He's like, listen. haven't you got a separate space for and he looks at the axe and back up the dormant

for extra valuable I mean this is a one of a kind do you realize this was held by Thorough Flame Tong I don't know who that is but That's okay But my point is if this was to be a stolen I mean this is pretty important He surreptitiously like holds out his hand

Well you're gonna hold on to it yourself I'll take extra good care Oh Doran pulls Five silver pieces out of his pouch He clears the throat at you a little bit All right Five more

Yeah he takes it and nods at you Just keep an eye on it all right Yeah I'm not going to tip you But if you fuck up my bow I'll kill you Red just like looks in a dead in the eye You guys are gonna have You are so nothing to me

Free reputation. Cool. I'll murder your whole family. Wim signs at him. He will. I've seen him do it. Yeah. Killed the guy.

Literally an hour ago. You make your way into the lobby of this grand theater. The color red seems to be throughout. Love this girl's color scheme. Just want to say it. Red carpets and gold pillars kind of everywhere. There is a ticket booth on the one side. There's a large marble staircase going up the other side.

And the lobby is full of people in their best clothes mingling around, definitely trying to be seen by each other. Doesn't seem like the show has started yet. Tamil, you know that to get to Corrilla's apartments, you're going to have to go up the side staircase. So this feels like the kind of place that would have just a guy, like standing against a wall kind of survey, like a floor manager vibe. Definitely. Yeah.

Tamil looks around for that individual, walks directly up to them and says, we're here to see Corilla. Do you have an appointment? Of course we don't have an appointment. I'm supposed to ask. Fair enough. Did you do something with your hair? You know. Was it a breakup or just trying something?

you. Little column A, little column B. It's always someone. The four of you. All right. Um, follow me. She like breezes through the lobby. Red whispers to Tamil, I feel like we're underdressed.

Believe me, you don't want to fit in with this crowd. Why? That guy's handsome. Red points to a bust. It just falls to them. It's like a stone marble, like. just a look of absolute confusion before kind of shaking your head

and just following this individual. Yeah, and as we walk through, Doran sort of looks around in the crowd. Is this supposed to be a tough crowd, or is this a fancy crowd? This is a fancy crowd. Oh, fancy crowd. Astute, Doran.

I love playing Duchess and Dragons with you. I had another idea if it was a tough-looking crowd. Why don't we want to be like these people? Oh, Temele? They seem cool. they partaken in a kind of they take advantage of people the fighters in the ring the mismatch that we saw earlier

very likely it was some of these folk who were responsible oh those bastards it says like echoes to the lobby you are led upstairs the furnishings here are no less opulent than downstairs in fact perhaps even more

more so, not garish, but definitely expensive. Through a long hallway and up another spiral staircase, you are brought to the private quarters of Carilla Gemstar. A door is quietly knocked upon, some words are exchanged in hushed voices, and then double doors are both opened magnificently to a huge room. There are exotic plants here, there are pieces of overstuffed furniture, and the walls are cluttered with expensive artwork.

In the midst of it all, Carilla Gemstar reclines on a chaise lounge, holding a goblet of brandy, her spiky red hair and gold suit no less resplendent than when you had seen her from afar this afternoon. To what do I owe the honor? Hello, Carilla. Um, we have some questions for you, if you have time before the show starts. Uh, hi, Carilla. My name is Red. This is my best friend Dawn and my best friend Wim and my new best friend, Temeil.

Hello. Charmed, I'm sure. Nice to see, uh, another prominent dwarf around here. And he sort of gives her a nod, like, uh, you know, you know, one of those dwarven nods. You know, classic Dwarven nod. Classic Dwarven nod. Yeah. Carilla, we're hoping to have some information about some comings and goings within dead snows.

We're wondering if you've heard anything about perhaps someone who escaped a slaver. Yeah. She stands up from her chaise lounge and slowly walks over to where the four of you are standing. And then she kind of paces around you, looking you up and down all over. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe, maybe not. Hmm. Ah, it's like that, is it?

Hey, is that a Mazdic and fern? Red walks over, like, to one of the plants and starts, like, touching it. Did you get this from Mazdica? It is. How? That's crazy. Isn't it? They don't even like the journey across the water.

No, they wouldn't. I didn't. I come from Mastika, too. You don't say. I do. Um, look, it might have been a few people. You seem to know everything, the comings and going and whatnot, and, uh, you know, oh, what a fancy party downstairs, you clearly know fanciness, and we don't.

So, we were thinking if people who know things, to you, knew of people that passed through, then maybe they would have smelt of brimstone, it would have come from the north, and probably needle a hand getting themselves back on their feet before going. You know, maybe some fighters, you know, looking for a bit of spare coin because they would have had nothing. Red says, like, realizing it as he's saying it,

to Doran and to Meal and Wham, he's like, what I'm saying makes sense. Look, what do you need? What do you need from us? What do I need from you? Well, if you look around, you see, a woman like me, doesn't tend to need a lot in this world.

but you Tamil I feel like I've been seeing a lot of you lately well I do enjoy the fights yes you do don't you very invested in them are we I was just looking for don't play stupid with me I know exactly what you're up to

well then I suppose there's no point in playing coy as I know exactly what you're up to as well Ah, but I'm a businesswoman. I suppose that's one thing you could call it. When you think about it, I employ dozens, hundreds of people. Think about the doorman downstairs, the people taking tickets, the actors. And the vendors, those meat, sugar sticks were delicious. Did you like them?

I loved them. Doran thought they were too sweet, but he's got a terrible taste, but he likes bland food. You see, I am an industry. Do you know how much it costs to have the weather controlled so that a storm comes in and breaks up a fight? I thought that storm was rather quick. The odds, astronomical. But you, you've been changing things, haven't you? Well, again, I suppose there's no reason for fibbing at this point.

Yes, of course. You ask me to think of all of the vendors and the doorman, but my mind immediately goes to the poor souls who walk into the ring expecting to be able to use their skills in a match that actually makes some sort of sense, walk into the ring expecting that they have a chance. And instead they're met with something else, something what, to line the pockets of the already filthy rich. Oh, come now. Children get sick and die every day. Is that fair? Ships sink in the Sea of Swords every day. Is that fair? Money comes and goes. People deserving are penniless. And people like me, well, look at all I have.

Carilla, you are many things, but you are not stupid. I know that you can appreciate the difference between The unfairness that comes from just the suffering of life, the chaos that is existence, and the unfairness that comes from direct intervention with an attempt to improve one's station or status. Yes, direct intervention. Putting a finger on the scale, should we say, I am as guilty of that as you are.

Oh, she's got you there, Tamil. Just a look, just a shoot a look over. Red. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Same team, Red. Right, right, right. Let's say for an instant that I knew not just what you were talking about, but where you could go to find those people. Oh, tell us, please. That's why we're here. Yes. What would you do for me?

Well, I suppose the thing that you don't have is control over me. Hmm. I like that. I like that. I'll make you a deal. You tell us what we need to know. And I will never show my face in dead snow again. Tempting. You know what? I accept.

It's your lucky day. As long as you walk out this door. and I never see you again I'll tell you what you want to know but trust my words if I ever see you in dead snows again you will be dead before nightfall does that

does that apply to us as well just at a curiosity I just is it like the group or just read I just wanted to clarify there is a slave in campus Yeah, fair. Just outside of the city walls. I believe they're in the woods to the southwest somewhere.

Hmm. Sounds like probably who we're looking for. Listen, I tried to get them to join Al Hamor, but for some reason, none of them were very interested in fighting for sport. Lady, you tried to get slaves who escaped a fire giant fortress to fight for you? Some of them are seasoned. You're an asshole, lady.

Now that we got what we need, I can say to you, you're an asshole. God, respect to you, Temeel, for biting your tongue. This lady sucks. Oh, I've been through this before with her. It just doesn't affect her at all. Look, she seems to enjoy it a little. Please, understand me. I'm not going to let you just stand here and disrespect me.

So, if we're done... It ain't disrespect if it's truth, lady. And I liked your hair. The door, right there. Red walks over the Mazda confirm and pulls. one of the legal... God! It's meant to be eaten anyway

and he puts in his mouth. Let's go. Super not, it's poisonous. Ow, my tummy! Fortunately, you ate that stew, so now it's counteracting. It's like... Poisons counteract, I'm sure of it.

Can't get double poisoned. Doran, just before leaving, looks at her dead in the eye and says, just so you know, I had a lot more respect for you before I met you. You give a bad name for our kind. He turns and walks out. She winks at you.

Oh, I don't like you. Gross. Let's go. As you are led down to the lobby out of Carilla's personal apartments, you see that the show has started inside and the lobby is empty of revelers. Let's get out of here. It's too stuffy.

You can see that again. Dorn looks around for the doorman that's keeping an eye on his weapon. He's just, like, in a side room, like, hi-ya, hi-ya, like testing out work splitter. Timiel walks into the side room and smacks him up the back of the head. What are you doing? It's like a valet who's, like, test driving the cars, you know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, man, you're embarrassing.

Red picks up his long bow and puts it in his back. Yeah, and heads outside with the others. Well, look, I'm sorry you had to go through that, Tameel, but I really appreciate you. I'm giving up all this for the cause, in a way. It's strangely become a little like home or a home. It was where I landed after I lost everything that I had, and it's strange to feel connected to it now.

I'm sorry that you had to trade this off, just for some information. But I'm hopeful that, you know, you'll find another new home somewhere that's more homey than this homeier than home yeah whim signs there are greater injustices in the world

than one crooked fighting ring hmm yeah it's amazing she's only 16 isn't it I didn't actually yeah she said there's a lot of injustices she said there's a more than just a broken fighting ring or something like that. We'll communicate for... Yeah, you'll pick it up over time.

Very wise. Well, thank you nonetheless. It was still a lot. And, hey, I'm with you. But you know what? I find home can be every night under the stars, like you said, you know? Yeah. And we'll have plenty more homes before the journey's done.

Yeah, it's just a... It's just a stupid town. Timul walks over to the starcades, breaks the lock, and Rogers. Off you go, Roger. Oh. Oh, thanks. Hey. He walks off and immediately pickpockets somebody. Yeah, there you go.

Yes. Right. You hear a voice echoing from the top floor of the apartments above the theater. I still see you down there. Oh, I guess you meant, like, right away. Okay, well. What are you watching us? Yes.

Chop, chop. Timu does a little wave that slowly turns into a middle finger. Yeah. Red flips are double birds. All right. Let's get out of here. To the southwest. and the four of you

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Oh my gosh, words, you know, they're hard sometimes. What can you do?