Dice Shame - 2-143 | 'Ready, Aim, Fire'

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Finally returning to Iron Slag, the party chooses to approach via the top this time and is met with some terrible revelations...________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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're such a well of surprises What an inspiring leadership speech Oh, those are so fucking slow I'm certainly not walking Whoa, whoa! Hey Doran! And look, you can jump on it! We won't know what the potions do. We'll figure it out after him. Shove it in a bag and let's go. What's the deeper motivation for lying here? You're hacked in, absolutely.

What were those? Thank goodness you're flying around there. Eye in the sky. Yeah. It's your eye in the sky. Witted coming in with your hat traffic. Absolutely. He's very well. Looks like we've got a backup. No side of Kibera today.

I'm happy to everybody. Welcome back to Dice Shame. This is Season 2, episode 143. Ready, aim, fire. MVP this week is Merrick's Moon, who's been hosting the weekly Dice Shame re-listens on our Discord. Thank you so much, Merrick's Moon. You are wonderful. And this week's MVP. Thank you, Merricks.

All right. Should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Yahoo! Ha-ha! Having enjoyed a long rest inside of... Camille's tiny hut. The five adventurers wake up on the edge of the forest outside of Iron's leg.

Dorn and Red are like sleeping right next to each other, by the way. And like, wind is like right beside us as well, too. Just like all three. I think Dorn pops up his like tired half, you know, his hair is all pushed up on one side. I wonder when we're going to. be all piled on top of each other. I love the idea that like, I know. We're like this, like, we're, like, deep in slumber, but it's, like, nude.

Nice. Wim entirely issues any, like, comfort, any creature comfort. She sleeps always wrapped up in her traveling cloak at, like, in a burrito style. So she's just a. cylinder of traveling cloak and she just kind of like unrolls herself. Fidel burrito. How's it going, Wim?

She gives you a high five. Yeah. Witted also is burritoed. It seems out of necessity because he sleeps in his armor and so there isn't a lot of room. It's like a little compact space that he sort of retracts into. And all night as he's breathing, the armor seems like the inner workings of it seem like

they're almost breathing with him. he's nestled in the middle of it. He gets rocked to sleep like a baby. He gets rock to sleep. He's so comfortable. Seems like a cocoon to me almost that you have like this chrysalis. It is, it is very. It puts on the noise machine. It's like, do, do, do.

It seems like it almost ejects him, like toast out of a toaster kind of in the morning. But slowly and gently also, kind of like wake up and shakes him a little. God, that's so cool. I think you don't have any idea how to meal sleeps because she's usually the last one to go to bed And this morning, especially, she's up first, and she's preparing a breakfast for everyone. Good morning, all. Oh, whoa. I haven't even to see this, Anna.

What smelled so delicious? Yeah, you know, making do with what we have, some little bit left over from dead snows. But tuck in, we need our strength for today. What is this? This looks edible. Red, like, pokes it with a fork, like looking at Doran, like, food? These are leftovers? Yeah, delicious.

Wow. What kind of food is it? Let's say that Tamil has done some rehydration with Red's jerky, some of his infinite jerky, and she's also taken some root vegetables, and she's made a kind of hash. Nice. Whoa. Wow, that smells amazing.

Oh, my, this is, this is amazing. It tastes like there might be a butter in this. Oh my gosh We haven't eaten this well In months To meal, who knew? You know And Doran's chowing down

He's looking at you I hope you slept Timil You know I noticed you were still up When I closed my eyes It's strange Being back here

Now that we're So close Yeah I got some So I got some hours in though Yes I think I'm ready Good Because we're gonna need it

Dorence or looks out the window and sees this massive staircase going up the side of the club. Well, we are way too close. Now that it's day outside, you see that you have... Red takes the spyglass on a Doran's face. No, no, no, Dorn is farther away. Dorn remembers the stairs that are going up the cliff. You can see through the window far enough away that you have been undetected throughout the night,

but close enough that you're able to see the details. Yeah, the adamantine doors, the staircase cut into the mountainside. You are here. You're at Iron Slag. So what's the plan? We're flying up or something? I'm certainly not walking,

and it just kind of lifts up off the ground a little bit. Oh, well, I don't know how else I'm going to get up there. I intend on climbing those stairs. You're going to walk and you're going to fly. I do have a way. to get us in... You do. It's a little bit of a teleportation spell,

but it might be better to use that to leave. I'm not sure. Oh. Well, what kind of teleportation spell is it? Is that the time that you have to build a circle and then wait 10 minutes? Oh, that's so fucking slow. Because I don't think that's going to work for an escape, Temeel.

Some high-level bad check. Thankfully, it is not that. It is a bit quicker. I believe it could be useful. for an escape. Oh, hey, perfect. Cool. All right.

Well, look, I'm fine with walking or flying, although, look, truth be told, we don't know what's going to be in there, but we can take a guess that it's going to be pretty difficult, and it's going to take a lot of our, well, you know, stamina. Magics and skills. So I would vote for the approach that saves the most magic, you know?

Like walking. That way we got a little more bazoom if we need to, you know, kill. Wim gets up and she starts doing some hamstring stretches. You're 16, you're as nimble as you're going to be. I'm the one that we're torn over. Widdid should be stretching.

Wittid's oiling up his joints right now and does seem to be stretching, yes. Now, do we want to do any like other buffs or preparations before we get underway? I think Temeel would definitely be, as part of kind of the meal prep and just the general, trying to put people a little bit more at ease will be just chatting people up and remarking on, you know, oh, in the past bottles, you know, I feel very confident that, you know, that Dorin, your toughness is going to come and clutch here. Red, the damage that you can deal out, amazing. And, and, with it, you're such a Swiss army knife. Switzerland doesn't exist here, but, you know, if it did, You're very much that multi-purpose.

Noba Sharby Dipe. And Wim, you're such a well of surprises. I know that we will come out of this successful. And she'll just be talking for 10 minutes, and I will use my inspiring leader feat. Everybody gets 14 temp HP. Whoa. That is amazing.

Fabulous. Hell yes. The kicker is, I hear I forgot that you wanted to do that or you had that spell. And I was thinking, what an inspiring leadership. Like to myself, you hit it. You nailed it on the head. You worked. Fantastic.

You know, when art and life combine. That's right. After Tamil does this awesome, inspiring leader, Red sort of walks over and like, it's pretty good, Tamil, you're pretty good at this. I appreciate you. You're rallying us, you know? I think we're all feeling a little gun-shy to head back. No, I feel it too.

But I don't know. There's something in the air, maybe. We've all been working together so well that I think that we're actually going to be able to pull this off. Hey, me too. Hope, right? Hmm. We got that. You know, it reminds me of a companion of mine a while ago. His name is Kralov. He passed away.

But, you know, he and I used to do like a combo punch, you know, the old one, too, we'd call it. And, you know, you seem to be so good at helping, you know. and I was thinking maybe you and I could work on something like that, something where, you know, either I go after you in battle or you follow me and we kind of, you know, help each other out in some way. Of course. I'm most comfortable when I'm supporting everyone else. Oh. Well, you're a good person, Timil. Let's not be too hasty. She says and punches you in the arm.

Ow! Playfully. Thanks. Thanks. I liked it, and Red walks away. Doran stands up after having now tightened all of his laces and belts and buckles, and he says to Timil, you know, you're something else, Tamil. Sort of a natural leader, right?

I have to say, I'm inspired, and I feel very optimistic for this next challenge that we face. A leader is only as good as their team, and I think that we've all shared responsibility and, you know, We've all had our moments to step forward, happy to do it when needed, but also... Damn right. Happy to step back. No, no, don't step back, don't step to the side, don't do anything, just continue doing what you're doing.

All right. And he sort of gives you one of those friendly shoulder punches, but followed by a look of like, please don't hit me back too hard type thing, like, it's supposed to be friendly. I hope you know that, Temeel. She gives you the most dead-eyed. stare for just a beat, and then she kind of chuckles to herself and gives you a pat on the shoulder. And then she'll turn to Witted. And how are you feeling Witted? Are you feeling all right about everything? Wittid's looking at these giant doors in the distance built into the

mountainside, and he is still looking at them with like anime-like eyes, where he's just marveling. And he says, the people who bade those doors of Atabatide, they've fashioned those. because they were the greatest craftsmen of perhaps the entire world's history, and they built those doors big enough for the Vodidod to emerge. Those giants in there are the inheritors of that craft, and we're going to see it up close very soon. We just need to get past the people up there. Listen, I know that I have a personal tie here,

but my main priority is making sure that all of us, Get out of there in one piece. I hope that you all have that same goal. And as such, I hold no preciousness about striking, killing blows, or as long as Zolto is dead and we are able to then take care of this Vonendard. Yeah. That is my only concern. We won't hold back.

Agreed. Wholeheartedly. Because tonight, we're going to kill the motherfucker. yes fucking high fives red just like cool hell's yeah buddy

red stretches and touches his toes and his back cracks like seven times okay all right let's do this and with that

the five of us break camp and make our way towards iron slag hi-ho hi-ho hi-ho to kill the dukes also

fucking disney lawyers apparate and starts serving cease and desist You can't say that. Hey, I'm a dwarf. We invented dwarfs.

Doren grows like a seven-warf style beard just for like five seconds and then it just disappears. You make your way to the base of the mountain and then begin your ascent up the 12,000 steps. Red is just keeping an eye out for what he saw a few days ago, which was a large flying creature. And I kind of imagine Red has cast pass without trace on all of us, which gives all of us at plus 10 to our stealth within a 30-foot radius.

Is that a spell slot? Yes. Okay. Yes. Mark it down. I am. I'm just trying to get through the... It's a great way for trying to avoid a, you know, get noticed from a top of the...

Oh, I totally agree. Big Bird. As Red approaches the bottom of the 12,000 steps, having cast pass without trace, he sort of turns to the others and says, look, we might have mentioned it. in passing, but I saw a large creature that's possibly a dragon. It didn't look like one, but it very well could drink. A what? Yeah, it had like a head of a lion

and a tail of some sort of serpent. Well, that doesn't, well, there are, some gold dragons appear to have maids in a distance. It wasn't gold. I'm not sure that what you saw was a dragon exactly. Well, it, I mean, it had wings, but okay, look, it doesn't matter. As long as we stay quiet and stay together, we won't need to find out. This sir looked like a dragon.

It wasn't a dragon. Irrespective of what it is exactly, and he kind of like looks up and immediately, anyone else need cloaking? I can extend by field to someone else, but I'm certainly about to go into cloaking mode. Eddie would? Eddie would going what's all right. And unless someone grabs him, he casts invisibility and as he's turning invisible, he's flipping up the advisor. And in a very iron man way, just takes off off the legend. and is like, I will be your eye in the sky.

And he's trying to sound reassuring, but what he's really doing is turning invisible and ditching you guys. And just to talk about out. Out in the middle of the air, watching you all from a distance. He left us. He left us.

I'm sure he's, there's no way he would pass up the opportunity to go in there. I'm sure that he's just keeping a low profile. Just panicking. But perhaps we should also keep an eye open for any places to, seek extra cover, should the need arise? Yes, yes. I did spot a hole about halfway up. Maybe we can hide in there if we need to.

Oh, excellent. I'll tell you, I'm excited for this climb. All right, let's go. And red skulks keeping center to the party so that the sphere of influence affects everybody. I do just want to establish that I did mark off a third level spell slot because I'm not just casting the invisibility on myself. I am also turning my homunculus invisible

and I'm just deploying it and it's hopping onto my shoulder unbeknownst to everyone and I'm whispering to it, Reggie, go check out that cave up there and I'm very nervous now that no one can see me it's very clear from Witted's voice and if you could see him as mannerisms

as he sends Reggie up there he kind of whispers under his breath you could do it, Reggie. I believe video and he's slowly moving up that way as well but reggie moves a lot quicker than him are you staying within the sphere of influence of the pass without trace or you're dependent on your you're going to be an independent agent i don't think i'm within that range so i'm i'm keeping a distance from them so i'm completely relying on my invisibility which i i was trying to figure out if my heavy armor like i think i still get the disadvantage because i'm not in infiltration mode so i think

like the invisibility in the heavy armor might just cancel out. I think I'm just regular stealth. Yeah. I'm picturing our point of view, the camera of the podcast, which doesn't make sense. But we are sort of on Widdid's shoulder as he is ascending into the clouds. We can see Doran and Temeel and whim and red climbing these stairs, diagonally making their way up. And as Witted continues to ascend into the clouds, the wind starts to pick up. And he's getting like buffeted around a little bit.

We observe the characters climbing up and up these steps, you know, 200 feet up in the air. The clouds begin to sort of form around them. These just wisps of mist and fog start to accumulate. We sort of lose sight of the PCs that are climbing the stairs for a second as they are. are approaching this cave entrance. Meanwhile, on the ledge of the cave entrance, we hear just a little clatter of pebbles as an invisible homunculus lands

at this huge comparatively cave entrance. It's about 50 by 50 feet inside and it's very dark. Can Reggie see in the dark? Oh my gosh, that's such a good question. I stumped him, guys. I stumped him. Since his dark vision 60 feet. Hell yeah.

So he can see a decent ways in. And he's got plus eight perception. Okay. Um, yeah, Reggie. Reggie, why don't you take a look around, roll some perception for me, and roll a stealth check just for fun. Just for fun. Absolutely. Just a cheeky little scalp stealth check.

Just for a good time. Just a little step. Here's the perception check. I got an 11 on that, not the best. Not great. But then the stealth check is 20. 11 perception and a 20 stealth. Very good.

As Reggie looks around this cave entrance, Reggie spots the bones and decayed carcasses of animals and humanoids, this place is a layer. But as far as Reg you can tell, right now, it is unoccupied. Meanwhile, climbing up the mountainside, Wim, Tamil, Red, and Doran are making progress. Oh, God. I knew I'd going to get my steps in for the day, but I didn't think it was going to be this hard. It's hard work, and you haven't heard at all from your companion-witted in about five minutes. Red sort of turns to Tamil, he's kind of like, you don't think he left us, right?

Like, obviously, he wanted to go inside, but you don't think he would just, like, abandon us and slip in without us, do you? He seems like a smart fellow, and if my descriptions and our discussions have been any indication, he would know that there is incredible danger to go alone into. So I'm hoping that that would be enough of a deterrent for just him sneaking in. Yeah. But if it helps ease your mind a little, and then Tamil will start just casting out message.

Ooh. Whididded? Are you there? But if he's not within 120 feet, then I wouldn't, like, connect with him. Witted is within 120 feet. It's maybe a little close at times, but I would say he keeps within just about that range. There's a little static.

How far away are you? Within rage. Close by. Yeah, I mean, you know, had you not been there to hold him back from that tunnel that blue orc was guarding with all those orc skulls, I don't know, but you're right. Look, truth is I'm not worried about us. I'm worried about him.

I think he's got that hunger in him, you know, that way you look when you really want something and you don't care what stands in your way. And I've seen that in other people, and, well, it can do you in sometimes. As they're continuing to hop up these, like, many stairs, well, while we've got a little time, I suppose it's worth asking, um, is it, I don't know, uncomfortable to travel with him? I don't know.

And before you're able to fully hash out this conversation, the four of us come to this ledge. This ledge is strewn with bones and carcasses, and off to the right-hand side, which is the mountain side, not the void of space side, there is a large, dark cavern. Witted, you have been able to appraise the interior of this cavern for the last minute or so, being that you were much faster in your ascent than your companions.

And you mostly observe the same details as you're homunculus. Now you are joined by your party, although you are still invisible. I love the idea that the homunculus is like crawling out and like red on the edge, like seize the pebbles. He's like, don't move. Everyone, something's inside, stirring. You know what I mean? Like, draws his bow slowly. And it kind of clatters around.

Like, when the homonculus is invisible and climbing in, it's like an imperfect machine. It's moving like a drone kind of, like a remote control. Like, clank, clink, clink, like it's, oh, no, it's making too much noise. So this thing is clearly clattering over to you. We know it's the homoculus, but you are unclear what's moving the bones. Suddenly, Witted's behind you. Hey, how's it going? Very impressive stealth.

Good cloaking. Two thumbs on. You're lucky I didn't take your head off. Oh, you're scared the shit out of me. I'm going to maintain my cloaking field while I still haven't. Might as well. It seems whatever beast was in there is no longer living there or seems to be out at the moment.

Yeah. Yeah, thank goodness. How fresh are the carcasses? Great question. Why don't you roll medicine check for me? You know what? Maybe I will. Good.

I hope you enjoy it. Doran watches Timile go over and look for fresh carcasses. Tamil, I don't think we should hang around here too long. Kind of looking over his shoulder nervously. I rolled a 12. Fantastic. These sure are bones. You can tell that some of them are beasts, maybe woodland creatures from the forest below.

Some of them are humanoid and scraps of flesh cling to the bones. You would estimate within the past. past week some of these? Hmm. Not exactly fresh, but not exactly old. I don't know if this thing has necessarily moved out. Mm, right in the middle. Well, well, let's pass before it comes back.

Is there any potential way into iron slag through this cave? Dorn sort of puts his hand up to his eye, look covering at the sunshine. Do you have 30 feet of dark vision or 60 feet of dark vision? 60. I like Dorn's idea. I think we should look just to see if there's a way, some secret entrance to art, like, perhaps. And I think Timil would also be interested in getting an idea

of the general shape and layout of this place as a potential landing spot for their dimension door exit. So she would also be looking around. And she's got crazy good dark vision. Yeah, so everyone with dark vision 60 feet can see that this is like a blind-ended crypt to, The first inspection. There's no obvious tunnels that lead deeper into the mountain.

So the five of us plus homunculus begin to dig around in these carcasses, inspect the walls. No, I don't think Red cares. I think Red's just hanging at the entrance. Somebody's got to stand watch for that flying picture. Timil will offer the help action to either Whitted or the homunculus, whichever one is doing the investigation. Digging. The Rology. The digging.

We did would appreciate that. I got a plus nine on an investigation. Let's do it. I'll be quick. Wimmy and I will hang outside with Dorn, I guess. And Doren sort of does his half-ass, like, kind of looked, but he doesn't expect there to be an ex. It's kicking the bones. Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

Can we go? I'll keep an eye off for this flying creature. Fool of a talk. Yeah, yeah. Red and Dorn are outside me, like, new adventures, eh? Searching the bones. Come on. All right, what did you get for your investigation?

with it. Sixteen with the help. Phenomenal. Yeah, Witted, you paw through some of these carcasses and make your way into the rear of the cave where you find a nest. It's not very pleasant. It's made of bones and some sticks. It's pretty large, maybe 10 feet by 10 feet. And there are clear impressions of bodies, places where creatures would be resting inside of this nest. And interwoven amongst the branches and strips of dried old fur, you find some treasure. Well, well, well, what do we have here? Whitted, you find, like, scattered on the ground, just sort of loosely, a bunch of coinage, which I will list in the Discord chat.

There is a hundred and, well, I mean, do you spend time picking up all the copper pieces and stuff, or are you just mostly going for the big boys? Kimeria ate a bag of gold. Ooh, petty. Knowing Whited, he's got some sort of, like, magnet situation, but just kind of, oh, my. God, Nick, that's genius. Oh, my gosh. I do think he would be picking through it.

He's like, this kind of air, doesn't it, these coids, I don't think. I'd be burning my way through with fire. That's what I would be doing. Flamethrower kind of pops out of the wrist, and I'm just doing fireball, fireball, fireball, fireball, as I burned my way through the nest, gathering up these hot, hot coins. You pick up 120 copper pieces, 45 silver pieces. pieces. You find six 100 gold piece gemstones. There is a torn-up suit of gnome-sized leather armor, which is incinerated with your fireball. Although, having incinerated the leather

armor, you do find in its curdling, ashy remains, there is a tiny electrum box. There's a dagger with an obsidian blade, a gold-plated helm studded with gems. There are two potion bottles and a black leathery-looking cloak. Does the cloak appear magical? Yeah, if you touch it, you're like, ooh, this substance, clearly magic. I love that.

It's almost like you get just a very minor electric shock whenever you touch something that's like magic. Loves that shock. That's the good stuff. Yeah, you want to identify or roll Arcana check? I would just do the identify spell, to be honest. If we're okay doing, I think it's a 10-minute ritual here, I would definitely spend the time to just identify all the magical stuff here.

I feel like 10-minute ritual. I mean, for the game, obviously, I don't care, but I do feel like. Outside, Wim has picked up a sharp stone, and she's starting to, like, draw some graffiti on the side of the... Are you kidding me? And he turns over, he's like, guys, we need to leave. Listen, we lost a party member here. Tamil lost her entire party member here.

This is not time we should be sitting wait in 10 minutes. I hate to play this card, but let's move. Any second this fucking thing could come back. But we won't know what the potions do. Well, we'll figure it out after. Shove him in a bag and let's go. Stick them in your pockets and let's go. It's going to take us a while to walk up the rest of these stairs.

Could you maybe look at them during that since you'll be flying anyway? I like that because Widdid can fly up after. Whidididt kind of isn't mad, but he's just sort of salty a little bit. It's like, what's the rush he's kind of thinking as he suits up again and just says, could be potions of climbing, I don't know. And he just takes off. It's true. If I don't do the ritual, then I haven't done anything.

to end my invisibility yet so I'll be maintaining that whereas if I did the ritual I think that would still break the invisibility true come on come on come on come on red's got a point we can't be stitting around here let's go I also love the image of witted responding to this urgency and like running in his armor as he's holstering a pair of potions there's something about that I really really like that feels like artificer core vibes for sure as long as people didn't need those potions but the mystery potions. I'll just holster in these pockets in the armor just for potions. You've got like a couple different sizes of pouches that are like the standard bottle sizes that people use. What a hundred percent cup holders in the armor. You continue your assent

into the thick gray clouds and now howling wind up and up into the air, witted flying invisibly on one side and the rest of the party marching up these 12,000 steps. And you gain altitude equal to the idyllic-looking yak-folk village. From Widdid's lofty perspective, he can see everything in fair detail, but the rest of the party is not afforded the same vantage. So from Widdid's perspective, this is what we see. A cascade of water coming down from the mountainside has carved out a ravine between two rocky outcroppings, whose peaks have been shorn and ground flat. And on each of these two rocky columns, there are two different groups of huts perched. The western cluster is larger, about 10 buildings, and the eastern is smaller with

only a handful. This is the cluster of buildings that the 12,000 steps ascends towards this smaller eastern cluster. The two sites are each protected by a carved wall encircling them, and are connected by a bridge made of ropes and planks. Witted from your vantage point, the village seems quiet. You don't see any movement. There's no smoke climbing from the hut's chimneys. You only see the endless churning of a water wheel in the mountain stream whose axle disappears into the side of the mountain. On the western site, there is a set of 20 foot tall iron doors in the mountainside, and Tamil, you know that this is your entrance into the elevator shaft. There's also a series of stepped farm plots on this western site that just ascend to the north. Very cool. Good.

Witted, you are afforded free movement. So Witted seeing this is going to slowly start making his way back down and after about 20 seconds the party can kind of hear him whispering out to them from maybe 10 feet off the edge of the stairs. Okay, it's a very well-laid-out set of defenses, as I'm sure you remember to some degree, Timiel, it seems like these stairs lead up to an eastern plateau. From the eastern plateau, there's a bridge that connects to the western plateau, and only from the western plateau can you then access the interior of the mountain

through what appears to be a massive set of doors into what I would presume is some sort of elevator system, some kind. Oh, thank goodness you're flying around there. Eye in the sky. It's your eye in the sky. We did coming in with your hat traffic. Absolutely. He's very well.

It looks like we've got a backup. No side of Kyberra today, I'm happy to your boat. Let's cross the bridge at least to the west and, you know, maybe we can scale the wall. Because we don't want to be on the east side, right? No, no, we want to be on that side. So our points across the bridge. So Red will cross the very sturdy looking bridge, I'm sure. It is, actually.

It's quite sturdy. It's rope and plank, so there's no handrails to speak of. But as you cross the bridge, it doesn't creak menacingly under your weight or anything. Red's like, hey, Doran, look, you can jump on it. Jesus. Yeah, and I think when we get to the bottom of the Western Wall, I mean, there's a set of stairs that sort of ascend to the Western gates but when we get to the bottom of the wall red's just going to look up how high is it and what is the construction of the wall i'm going to say they're 10 feet tall oh okay yep and scalable wow

yeah i think when red's at the base of the western walls without really checking because i think it's a pretty solid option at least he jumps on it with his little tabaxy claws and starts climbing up and he has a 30 foot climb speed like a walking speed and he makes it pretty easily to the and I think he sort of peeks over the wall, maybe at the same time as Witted, who's sort of looking farther north along the wall. Maybe we both look into the encampment at the same time. Witted's landing on the section of the wall just north of the Western gate that leads into the western plateau.

What do you see? Red and Witted perched on the wall now. You are afforded a better view of. of this western site of the village. And what you see is a little bit disturbing. There are a number of disturbing bloodstains on the stone ground of this village. There are some fenced in areas adjacent to some of the huts

and iron cages. It looks like this is in keeping with Timil's description. of the village as being occupied by slavers you would imagine either the fences or the cages would be used for animals or maybe people although from what you can tell everything is unoccupied however in the middle of the village a large hairy carcass dressed in ripped clothing lies in a pool of blood on the ground between two huts. Hunched over the body, a huge monster rips at its flesh with two heads, a lion's head and a dragon head. Each of them are tearing off strips of meat greedily, and a third head, a rams, just looks around stupidly and chews its cud. The monster's body is

massive, maybe 700 pounds of muscle and tawny fur with a lashing, scaly tail and a pair of red wings folded on its back. Meanwhile, a second monster similarly built, but with black wings and tail and the head of a lioness is lying down in the shade of a nearby hut. The mouth of this black dragon's head is open in a lizard pant. A shocking yellow interior is visible. The lioness is licking blood from its forepaws. Red peering over the side has sort of his one hand extended behind him. And as he's seeing this, he's just like signing a little bit, like short hand kind of, down to whim. And Temeel and Doren, as we've all sort of started to pick it up, obviously it's not using his full, you know, both hands and all the movements,

but it's kind of like a shorthand that they've all been kind of developing. And he's just sort of relaying all this information. Do we know what they're eating? It looks like one of these yak folk is dead on the ground. And a chimera is eating the carcass while another one sits nearby after having already eaten its fill. Ah, some of the things that come with the job, I guess, of being a yak folk slaver. So the dangers.

Well, I mean, based on the number of bloodstains and not just blood stains, there are like drag marks that suggests some terrible violence happened here. Yeah, so Red relays all this and then very quietly, within the sphere of influence, hammers a pitton into the stone quietly. Okay. And he drops a rope. Do we see any yak folk around or just the head? You just see that dead one. Just the dead one. Just heads.

They're rolling around. You should have checked the bottom of the waterfall. Maybe it's just like a bunch of lights. So Temeel will signal to bring Witted and Red down closer so they can talk about this a little bit because I think that... Witted would kind of see the group in it. Good idea. Yeah. So all of us are like gathered on the cliff side just below where Reds put the rope and we're like all just having a little tete a tte.

So it seems like there's an amount of danger if we do go into this one section and through the doors. Potentially an equal amount of danger, but could we perhaps sneak across the axle? Avoid those chimera entirely. If we're thinking of preserving our strength and our spells and everything for the fight that's definitely going to happen down in the forge, Vos, the druid of my former party. that's actually how she got in. She went across there, but she was wild-shaped, and so she had a much easier time of it

than I think we humanoid forms might. And I think Witted, I'm not sure if you'll be able to navigate it in Bessie. Bessie is pretty big, yes. I'm not going in without Bessie, so I'll figure something out. Fair enough. Well, hold on, Witted.

I think Timmil's got a great point. know, I could store Bessie in my portable hall for a few minutes while you pass through, you know, and then obviously give it right back. You can see him getting upset that he doesn't have an argument against that. I mean, no pressure, obviously, but like, you know, I totally agree. I think avoiding these, look, this feels like natural selection, if I'm being honest. Seems like the yak folk gots were coming to him, you know. Seems like maybe they pissed off this to that get involved.

Yeah. You want to go through there? Just as an option. I mean, I think I want to be clear. I do not think it is safe. I just think it's a different kind of danger. Look, I'm all for it. I, in fact, I could bamf right in.

It would only deal with me, but I wouldn't have to worry about that. I can jump through shadows, and it's definitely going to be dark in there. Oh. That's handy. What's, uh... So there was two of them, you read? Yes. Well, now that we're together, we can say,

Widdid, you saw what I saw. And then I suppose the doors up there, they weren't wide open either. There's a possibility. They were closed and locked. Witted, what were those? I've never seen a chimera of a variety of dragon other than red dragon.

It's most interesting. So it was a chimera. Damn. All right, well, look, Doran, if you don't want to do it, we'll find another way. Well, hey, look. No, I like the idea of that now that I think about it.

I mean, if you want to be a big baby, if you want to be a baby, Doran. Whoa. Listen to you. Wow. We can murder people, but calling someone a baby guy that really hurt my feelings. No, look, I do think it's probably a wise. That's a brilliant idea to me. I guess.

Did we get to the other side if there's three. chimeras? There's three chimeras in the hut. Yeah, and these ones are hungry, too. They are not currently eating. Damn. All right, look, let's waste no more time. Let's at least go inspect a wheel.

Maybe it's impossible. Maybe since the druid snuck in, they plugged it up. And Red will climb back up. He'll remove the rope, and he'll climb back down, and start heading east. Fantastic. But leave the pitton, because you never know. I will leave the epiton. I want to make sure it needs to stay there.

What you knows, maybe the camera will fly away, its tail get caught in the piton, and it smack into the wall. Wash down the river. It would be the very best way. It's a French spirit. Fabulous. You never know when you're going to have to loop onto a piton. We make our way back across this bridge and up the stone stairs toward the east.

The eastern plateau of the Yakfolk village, the doors to the eastern village are not fully shut. One of them is cracked open, like five feet. Mm, widet, where are you? What do you see? I kind of float down and I'm hovering next to you. Hey. Oh, is there anything in there? Any more chimeras? Do you see anything? He kind of raises up to look over the wall and then lowers down. to tell Red what he sees.

Mm-hmm. The village on this side is not bespoiled by the same bloodstains as are on the western side. However, it does seem to be similarly vacant. All clear, nobody there. This might just be the perfect opportunity that we couldn't have asked for. No yak folk. They've all been chewed up on the other side. I think now's our chance.

if something was strong enough to kill the yak folk you think that's the better option well this might just give us the opportunity to sneak through sneak through that wheel and get inside that's a fair point without being seen by these what are you called the crime era

yes that's how you say it we should also just keep in mind that if those chimera had been living in that cave for a while the yak folk might have some sort of fortification that they could retreat to if there was an attack and maybe they are still yak folk here though we cannot see them. Yeah, good thinking.

Just something to keep in mind. Hope they're not inside where we're going. Looking at the hut with the axle, you don't see him looking at it, but you hear him go, it's entirely possible we are going to wood such refuge right now. Everyone, heads on swivel. Well, listen, let's, if we got one minute, Red flops down to the ground and I'll cast

primeval awareness. It tells me, I mean, I'm assuming yak folk are humanoid. I saw the corpse. It'll say the location of humans and giants within 10 miles. Red, your primeval awareness goes bananas. Not only are there humanoids within five miles. There are humanoids within a hundred feet. There are also two humanoids within, let's say, 150 feet to the southwest of you. Oh, southwest? Oh, dear. Additionally, you would presume within the bowels of iron slag, you've got giants and humanoids both. I think Red sort of just takes a moment before revealing anything. You know, weighs the idea of if Tamil is passionate about saving humanoids and there are humanoids in the area with the chimera, you know, do I reveal this?

because realistically what Red knows about Tamil is that Tamil was one of the people that got caught and taken in by giants and you know there's an element where obviously he's starting to trust her but also wonders like hmm could this be the kind of decision that got them stuck in the last time? Is she going to want to hunt through every last cage in this village? Is she going to want to kill every slaver? Is she going to be like... Yeah so Red sits up and sort of locks eyes at Tamil sort of for a moment

and just looks at her and then you kind of see this wave wash over him of like yeah okay and he says yeah there are humanoids in the northeast here and back the way we came

a couple two I think over there in the chimera pit so they could be yak folk or they could be slaves survivors so What do you want to do? Temeel's definitely looking back across the chasm,

looking back towards what you, you know, the southwest, where you said that there were two other humanoids. Listen, I don't want to put us in any unnecessary danger, but if there are people here who are just going to die if we leave them, it doesn't feel right necessarily to just, Walk away. Whim nods in fervent agreement. You know, Temeel, we can't save everybody, right?

Is there any way we can confirm? Witted, you're all stealthy right now, wherever you are? You kind of pause at the arrogant. Yes, I could be, and the idea of that is that we don't get hung up on unnecessary side tracks. You know, and the other thing is, too, whoever's in that hut. is in that hut and not in reach of these beasts, I would assume. Yeah, that's why they're in there. Right, but they're going to die.

I mean, these things are going to hunt them down. Look, the first step is just confirming whether or not they are actually people worth saving and not just yak folk. Does anyone have a way that we could see back over there in the West without having to physically go there? Could Reggie go? I could certainly send Reggie if it means that we could sort this out quicker. Yes, I'm happy to send him. Perfect.

And in the meantime, I'm going to check out that hut to the northeast because there's no time waste. I think Doran sort of throws his hands up. And I think Redwell stealth up towards that one. He can peeking through a window, you know? Sure. Reggie flies. Yep.

He got little glider wings pop out on the side, and he's going to be, like, flying along. I can't wait for the fan of Reggie. Are any of you old enough to remember batteries not included, the movie? Yeah. oh yeah the apartment complex the little robot oh yes absolutely i remember this i knew it was going to be something i had seen hell yes that's reggie core for sure reggie flits and flies across the chasm

making his way toward the western encampment as red stealths toward the eastern hut in question Reggie flies up over these huts and almost immediately spies what Red had been sensing. There are two humanoids inside of a cage. They are huddled together, locked inside of this iron cage. Looks like they are not dressed for the weather. They are thin, they are shivering and scared. and they seem to be pretty much unguarded. Are they humans?

There is a human and there's a shield dwarf. Oh, well, there's a dwarf that we definitely have to go back. Doran's like, well, there's a different thing, guys. Sorry, apologies. Whitt has not relayed any of this yet. I am deciding what he is going to say. But that's what Reggie sees. After suggesting that Reggie be the one to kind of scout the other side,

I think that Tamil has the memory of the conversation that she and Red and Doran and Wim had on the stairs and almost guiltily she just casts out detect thoughts and tries to put it on Witted. Can Witted tell that Tamil is touching your mind? I believe the default is no. For surface thoughts. If I probe deeper, he gets a save. Cool. They are in a shared cage that is locked up tight

And so they are basically trying to stay alive by sharing body heat despite their meager rags. So Witted, what are the surface level thoughts? What he's saying out loud is, I see people, they look safe. They look happy. I think they're safe from the chimera. They seem huddled and secure. They're holding each other. They're keeping each other safe and secure from the chimera.

They're fine. Don't worry, they're fine. What you're getting from his surface level thoughts, I feel like, given that he's watching it in real time, especially that it's a transmission coming through from the homunculus, I think you're seeing exactly what he sees. Just more like, almost like echoes of it and bits and pieces and visions kind of disjointed maybe.

But I feel like you're getting enough to tell what he knows. You see like an image of wrists rubbed raw from shackles. And you see an image of an iron cage. I know we're supposed to be fighting stuff right now, but I actually would love to probe for deeper thoughts. Because I think now, Tamil, having seen this difference of like what is this, I think that what she wants to know, and this is almost reflexive, is, is Witted just being single-minded

or is he a bad person? Like, what's the deeper motivation for lying here? So you will get a, you'll get a wisdom save. As a player, I desperately want Witted to fail this so that you can know the truth about Witted. You can choose to fail any role you want. No, you got to leave it too much time. Here's the thing, though, I don't think Witted would reflexively know

that this is an opportunity for people, to get to know him better, nor would he want that if he did. And I'm sorry to say gnomes get advantage on magic-based saving throws against mental attacks. So I do have pretty good role on this. He's got a mind palace. Fair. Now I do have, it looks like a plus.

Oh, yes. I have a terrible wisdom saving throw. Great. Because artificers are trained in constitution and intelligence. and I dumped wisdom because I'm a nutty professor type. So I have a minus one on this. I'm putting that in my deep brain.

The higher of the true roles is a seven. So I failed to say. Wow. You fucked up. I fucked up. You're in. You're hacked in. You're hacked in.

Absolutely. So I get insight into your reasoning, emotional state and something that looms large in your mind. So you're seeing what I'm seeing, but now you're getting this like murky dreamlike voiceover of Witted's voice, almost the subconscious of Witted, commenting on what he's seeing, the thoughts that maybe Witted even suppresses from himself. And what Witted is thinking is, again, in this almost from deep underwater kind of way, So you just leave them then?

And if they were gnomes, would that have made a difference? And if they were your family, would that have made a difference? And Darius? Where is the line? What is the circumference of the sphere of the people that you care about? Can you calculate that? Can you calculate when you're doing the right thing? Fuck.

Damn, that's amazing. I mean, inspiration for sure. I'm sure you already have it, but I just want to heap it on top. That's fabulous. I feel like you can tell. And great job, Nick. Witt is not conscious of those thoughts

that you just pulled out. Or if he is, he's like pushing them away. So good. Wow. Meanwhile, Red, you have stealthed through these doors and are in the eastern compound. You make your way up to the hut? Yeah, where I detected three humanoids,

and I just kind of want to see if I can peek in stealthily through a window, get some eyes on them. Red, you make your way up to this hut, and you do find a small window through which you are able to peer, and you see a strange sight. There are three humanoids in this room for sure. there are some naked elves, two men and one woman. And alongside them, there are three yak folk.

These yak folk are sitting comfortably in this room. This is a mill of some kind. You can see that the water wheel is churning machinery inside. And these yak folk are a sitting. sitting around smoking pipes while these naked elves are performing manual labor. They are cooking some food for them, it looks like. And the yak folk are talking in these grunts to each other. Why are they naked?

Why they have to be naked? Wait, who's naked? The elves or the yak folk? The elves are naked. Sure. They are naked because they are slaves that tend to these very important yak yak folk so that they cannot conceal any kind of tool or weapon. Okay.

So these elves are cooking and cleaning this hut. Like drug, like drug meals where you're like cutting the drugs, you do it naked so they don't you're not stealing. That's exactly the vibe. I totally get it. Listen. Drugs I get. So these yak folk are sitting and enjoying themselves seemingly, although it's hard.

You can't really read the vibe of a yak. folk because as you now realize they are not humanoids you were not able to detect their presence with your primeval awareness right from your brief observation of them one of these yak folk appear to be a heavily decorated male he's got these two huge horns on either side of his head he's wearing these like really ostentatious ceremonial garb he's got his two big like hooves crossed one over the other and he's sort of reclining in this chair. It's a weird chair. They probably dragged it from a different hut because it doesn't go with the mill vibe, but he's smoking from this big long pipe. The other two are seeming, they kind of like are a little deferent to him, so probably like a lower cast system maybe. Interesting. Is the water wheel very loud? Yes. As is the crashing of the waterfall beside you. Perfect. And red heads back. to the others. And Red, when you make your way back to your party members, I mean, Wim looks

kind of bored, but there's something strange happening interpersonally between the rest of the party members. There's no mistaking it. Tamil looks deep in thought, and it doesn't seem like it's a very pleasant thought. What did you say to her, Doran? I didn't say anything. I'm just, well, I guess I said that we can't save everybody, but listen, I just... what did you see up there? I saw three large yak folk in there and three humanoids, elves. I think one of the yak folk was like a chieftain of some sort.

They were dressed in fine garb. I don't think they even heard the chimera. This almost happened relatively recently. Timil, what's wrong? What's on your mind? You're distracted? Um, it's nothing. Where's Witted?

I think he's right around here. Witted! And right again, pause for like the air. I kind of feel like you don't hear witted answer. Well, he must still be checking on the other people. Okay, look, there's a lot of options here. On this side, we have two large beasts, and on this side we have three innocents and at least three yak folk,

but I don't know how many more there could be. I thought they were humanoid, but they're not. What do we want to do, guys? Time is a wasting, and if we don't act quickly, everyone could die. All right, I just want to say thanks again to all of our wonderful Patreon supporters. And usually it takes me so long to read this, so I'm going to take a stab at going a little bit quicker here. Thank you to Abby Mae Burkin, absolute ocelli behavior.

Adam Frye, Abril. Azu Yucai, aka Trash Panda, Alicia Andrus, Alicia Duh, Amanda Nicole, Anna Lena, Ethologoth, Autumn, Axel, Beanfein, Bird, Blacklight Riot, Riot, Caitlin Hengeveld, Caspian, Celeste Jedlick, Charles, Christopher, Clockwork Phoenix, Colin Berkhart, Crow, David Shaw, Delirium, Eldridge Unicorn, Eli Davis, Emerson Forsberg, Aaron Lightning, Gabby, Tau, Gareth Bradshaw, Haley, H.D., Hyde, Issey, Ivy Covered Stones, Izzy, Jack, J.D., Jellybean, Josh Kalucia, Joshua Nance, Joy Robinson, Kara, Karen Duley, Cass, Kelly Foltz, Key Raven, Lambda J, Lichrat, Lissan Klickner, Liz, Lorelai Feldman, Luke, Luna DiMaria, Manderpants, Marina Bennett, Merrick's Moon, Martina, Melinda Curley, Merlin, Minty, Misrah, Moon, Nabea Guiga, Nick D, Nicky, Knox the Nightshark, Oakland, O.B., Pan, Queen, Quinn, Rabita Naz Cheese, Ren, Ruthanne Reed, Trent, Scotty, Seer of Time, Shannon Waldner, Schonk, Slate Blue Flowers, Snick Snick Snack, Sray 96, Stab, Sunny, Tea Kettle, Thea Bell, Victor, Vul control, Waffle 427, Wanderer Fen, Wren Gillespie, and Zill Street. Thanks again for watching and see you around the table. As Reggie looks around this cave entrance,

Reggie spots the bones. Sounds like a song, Reggie spots the bones. Yeah, it's by the flaming lips. Reggie spots. Hey