Dice Shame - 2-148 | 'Forge Ahead'

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Out of the Mines and into the fire as Widdid, Tamiil, Dorin, Whim & Red seek Duke Zalto within the belly of the mountain...________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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 friends Nic & Timm 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.

That's got to be some of the cleanest liquid iron I've ever seen. A natural upgrade. I think we got to play the Smotsdale. It could be worse. There was a guy, actually, I remember now. Am I supposed to be keeping a list for everyone? Oh, I'm not that worried. It's all the science, none of the art.

It's easier to clean than you'd think. Well, wait a minute now. I am heavier than I look. That's easy. Egress from here, ingress to another room. You're becoming less clear what exactly happened here. I'm Duke Salto all alone. I sure wish my friends would come and have dinner with me,

but I'm just going to sit here with my eyes closed and think about the balance. Back to the door, kneeling. Welcome back to Dice Shame. MVP this week is Marimo for finally posting their profile pictures. on their Tumblr. You can check them out at Merrimo Jen with two ends on their blue sky social and take a wonderful look at their Doran Red Marian Jack. Thanks, Marimaux.

You're this week's MVP. Thanks, Marimo. All right, should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Woo! Woo! and observes a long rectangular room, only dimly lit by distant sconces. Even so, the air seems to waver with heat.

Beyond a lowered iron portcullis, over a dozen heavy rectangular cages are bolted to the floor, and there are captives within. It's hard to see how many, some are lying down, some could be dead. the wide corridor is punctuated by three stone columns that run the east-west length of it and based on the low barking chatter coming from between them there are guards of some kind here as well and that's what reggie sees i think that uh we did i think getting this information from reggie would be relaying that to the team and I think this is one of those times

when he is being honest about what it is he sees up here. We've got some cages and we've got some guards and it's exactly what you would expect. People look like they might be in trouble. Oh boy. How the hell did they survive this heat?

I mean, we had to use the potions. Surely they'd be burned alive. I wonder if they're feeding them the potions just so that they'll stay alive and do their biddings And Dorn sort of looks down on his arm And notices that like It's weird how you know He can see the heat almost through the air

But it's not burning his skin or sizzling Singing his hairs It's interesting to him I suppose we know now Where those potions that Zolto didn't actually pay for went Right, right I guess the fire giants wouldn't have needed them That makes sense

Oh man Who's in there guarding them What are we looking at as far as You know any baddies Yeah how many and what are they making model Reggie can see at least one hobgoblin But the other forms are kind of like hidden behind these big columns So he's just kind of extrapolating

Based on the voices that are like answering to each other I'd have to put Reggie directly into danger if I was going to get an exact pinpoint on the number of guards, but it looks like hobgoblets possibly. Oh, hobgrey. Well, it could be worse. It could be a big ogre in there. Yeah, so you saw this ogre.

He's sitting, it looked like reclining at a desk with his feet up on the desk, and you guys got the impression that he was like, while my boss is away, I'm going to take a turn sitting in the big boy seat kind of vibe. And additionally, you saw that there are some caged hellhound. in an adjacent room. Right, right. Red sort of looks to Temeel and then back to the others.

Look, look. I'm not saying we abandon the slaves. I'm not saying that. But if we beat Duke Zolto, if we can stop him, if we can, you know, empty this place in some way,

well, then the slave problem sort of solves itself. We can come back and let them out. I wonder if, and this is going to sound weird, but I wonder if they're kind of in the safest place they can be right now. I think they might be because there's no way for us to have a fight with those guards without alerting both this oath at the desk and also the hellhounds and whoever it is that's guarding them.

and we don't know yet how to get them out. We'd have to, if they came back the way that we went, they would first face that strange fire elemental thing and then possibly, you know, chimera and, I don't know, any remaining yak folk that are still in the village. So I agree that right now might not be the best time, but I also agree that it would be wrong to just leave them full stop. Of course, of course, I agree.

And I appreciate you saying that. I know this is tough. You know, it wasn't long ago that you were in that position, and I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have somebody on the outside be so close and walk by. But I think we've got to play this smart still. And Duke's Alto is still our prime target, and we can always swing back.

And who knows? You know, maybe we can get the slaves themselves to revolt and become escapists evolve in a way, like my Pokemon. I'm sorry, you're what? A natural upgrade. Doran's sort of leaning a little bit closer out the doorway and sort of observing into the room as he's listening to you guys talk. And then he leans kind of back and he turns to right.

He says, so what do you think? Like we avoid the slaves and the hobgoblins altogether. Maybe go that way and he sort of points across the room at where the buckets of slag. How dare you call me? The eponymous iron slag. Oh, right, right. That's her kicking it from.

Maybe we could follow the... I get it now. Iron slag. Look, there's many ways that we could egress from this place. Ingress, egress, egress? Ingress. Red looks at Temeel. Egress from here, ingress to another room. Yeah, that's what I meant.

Both of those, there's a set of stairs, just a few back around the corner. Maybe we should check there first. Again, I think it's good. gotta be eyes on Duke's Alto before we do anything. And if this is a dead end, then maybe the iron slag buckets. I agree. I wonder if zooming out a bit more even to say, is our main goal right now to get a lay of the land, to try to cover as much territory as possible and understand exactly where things are, who it is that's here, or are we looking for our first opportunity to take some sort of action? I think it's to find Duke's.

Zolto because the longer we explore the higher probability of getting caught there is, and that doesn't help us if we haven't even found Duke Soto. In terms of first action, I think we should avoid it at any cost, or at the very least if we do have to take action, be extremely discreet about it. Because if we get called out, I don't know what kind of alarm system they have, probably a screaming fire giant. But that would be enough to scare everybody. There was a guy, actually, I remember now, last time. Just clearing his throat. Well, we're heading down anyway, right?

Because Reggie saw Duke Zolto in the banquet hall. Yeah, we have his location. Right. Yes. You're right. Okay. Mm-hmm. All right, let's get eyes on Zolto and then decide from there,

once we know what it is that we're actually looking at and dealing with. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Reds sort of, like, looks deep and thought. a second as we sort of move towards the stairs and then he sort of stops everyone and says, well, actually, you know, I've been trying to think of how we can get Duke's all to alone, if that's even

possible. And one option could be, you know, back at the Thousand Maws, and I really took a good eye gouge. Nope, that's a weird way of saying it. Mm-hmm. I took a real good... Look?

Look? Yeah, I was trying to be flavorful. The list was good. it up, come on. I really eyed that chieftain, Grakalak, you know, I gave him the old up and down, if you know what I mean, wiggled my eyebrows mightily at his... You're becoming less clear what exactly happened. Anyway, I agree. Sorry, sorry, look, I think that I could disguise myself as Chief Grakalak if the need be.

While it would be a risky move, it also would potentially be a way to speak to Duke Salto one-on-one. Because we do know that Grakalak has reason to speak to him. In fact, he's the only person that I can think of that would have reason to speak to him. Whim signs at you, but if he discovers you, you would be alone. Well, not necessarily. I mean, we have invisibility spells. We have the portable hole. It doesn't even necessarily mean that we need to go where Duke Zolto decides.

All I mean to say is, right now, I can't think of a way to get Duke Zolto alone, and so far as I can tell, that's the only idea that would at least give us face-to-face time. That's all. I don't know how quiet it's going to be down below, and I wanted to mention that before shit hits the fan. We also don't really know who else he knows and how close they are to him, other than this cracklock. I mean, what other relationship could we figure out? Mama?

Red, I have to echo Wim's concern. I wonder if Zolto's first thought when seeing someone to whom he owes a significant amount of money wouldn't just be to kill him on the spot, especially if he was alone. You're right, and I guess this would also be dependent on what kind of person Duke Zolto is. I mean, you know him the best. out of us and... Like a full body shiver of the thought that like somehow

to meal those are best... Yeah, and like Red's pain to suggest it but he's kind of like, you know, as much as he clearly went back on your deal, the idea that he would even float the option to fight his hellhounds does seem that he has a moment of conversation in him with a foe.

That's the thing. I don't think he went back on his deal. I don't think that he made the deal at all. I think that he took advantage of my hope, my expectation that he would honor his word. But thinking back, I... I mean, I feel so stupid now for not considering the option. You're not stupid. Don't call yourself stupid. You're not stupid.

It was a completely understandable mistake. If someone's going to try and take advantage... We don't like that word. Uh... That is on the list of not a... approve nicknames for Tamil. Whim signs like, say sorry to yourself. Am I supposed to be keeping a list for everyone and you can just hear him tick and tick-tick-tick-de-k.

Oh, this is a bunch more responsibility that I expected. Look, you're right. Taking on Grakalax guys would be dangerous, especially when we don't know what he's thinking or, you know, what kind of person he is. I wish I could get close enough to him and try to probe his mind a little and then just a slightly guilty look over at Witted. I mean, for no other reason it would be good to know if we're working on some sort of timeline or, you know, what his plans are for anything. Hold on, you can probe his mind. You could do that?

Yes, I can try anyway. Sometimes it's just very superficial things, but sometimes if I focus just right, I can go a little deeper and... Uh, have you, have you read my mind at all? What? What do you mean? I'm, well, you know, I mean, you know, just, um...

No, no, I have not read your mind or... Oh, good. Good, good, good, don't. No. Or yours, swim. Because if you did, I just want you to know, I only thought Dorin's axe was, was interesting at most, okay? I, I don't want to use it.

I like my... And maybe there's something about the voice that I find somewhat attractive but that has nothing to do with them. That's great, eh? And you read Red's thoughts right now and he's just saying, don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.

It's like something. No, no. Yeah, that's cool. Hey, no secrets. It's all good. I've got nothing, I'd. Read Doran's and it's like, that's a rock, that's a rock, that's a rock. That's a specially rock. Slag.

Iron slag. You make sense now. Dorn's looking at the stairs, And he's sort of like patiently waiting. Yeah, you're right. Let's go and let's be, you know, stealthy. I still have passed without a trace. So stay close. As Temeel had been talking about having this discussion, that's when marching over you kind of saw in the background with it in his armor.

Completely oblivious, not registering any aspect of this mind-reading conversation as being important in any way. He is recalling Reggie whose invisibility is going to be wearing off. I just wanted to check real quick, Joe. you said that in the northeast of the room where the slag carts are going there we can see out of there or it's shut yeah you could see out of there it's a corridor that leads to like a wider open room and then farther way farther down narrows to another corridor again it's hard to see like if that's like 300 feet on 100% I would just be remiss I feel like if as I'm recalling reggie I didn't have him dart kind of across the room to take a peek down there, even as I'm just like,

and then when you've checked there, then literally just follow us and we're going to take the stairs down. But I do feel like I want him to just see. And then I recall Reggie, he comes flying and like starts to uncloke, as it were, as I'm like marching this way and hovering this way. Reggie just literally flies over and like reattaches to my shoulder and like climbs inside. Joe, you had said that the buckets of the slag are not moving, right? Correct. And then also the other thing is the large apparatus kind of in the middle of the room, this wheel looking thing. Does that move them? That looks like it's connected to them in a way that it moves them? Yes. So the slave wheel and the bucket chain are both stationary. Please, pre-escapists wheel. This apparatus would have been driven by the hands of the prisoners here as they are not currently operating the wheel. It is stationary and so it. is the bucket chain.

As we move through these rooms, it might be good to remember what it is that we've seen. As a possible distraction, if you can disguise yourself as Gwacklack, perhaps you could also disguise yourself as someone who could tell the guards of the prisoners to release them

so they could begin to move the wheel again. We should keep things like this in mind, I think. Oh, that's great thinking. Hey, that's a good idea. Witted, you don't have any, like, minor illusion or... The armor raises a single finger in the air very academically. It just goes, in fact, I am so glad that you brought this up

because, surprisingly, I am somewhat experienced that the art of disguise and deception thanks to a little feature I added fairly recently, and he's very proud, you can tell. As not to burn up the spell slide or anything, he just demonstrates with like a little bit of the shoulders and head of the armor projecting this sort of like hologram illusion It's a disguise self-spell.

And you realize I've made a pretty passable Grak-lack as well. And the voice, because it's recorded as an orc's voice, sounds like an admittedly very mechanical version of an orc's voice, but it is an orc's voice. The only problem is the grunting voice goes, And as you can see, I would be able to trick anyone quite adeptly using the cunning and voice modulation,

which are demonstrated by the components of the... And he just starts rattling off numbers and stuff. This is easy. You can tell he's trying to do a Greck-Lack impression right now, but you only catch that he's trying to do one after a few seconds, like, oh, God, he's trying to do Grag-Lac right now. He's dumbing himself down. The vocabulary is like not...

It's all the science, none of the art. Yes. Because I am an ork, as you can see. A simple-minded orc and nothing more. A stupid or... No, you keep on getting... and more and more interesting with everything you say. I wouldn't even know many square roots at all, honestly.

Ha ha, me, Graklaks, no math. Higher mathematics, indeed. Well, hey, there's a plus there. I mean, if we do end up finding out what Zolto thinks, perhaps Grakalax and his daughter, Booty, maybe the two of them would be less of a wanting to kill approach. So long as one of us does all the talking. Red points to himself.

Her name was Cubub, by the way. Yeah, booty. Yeah. I don't speak all. The illusion vanishes and I raise the helmet. I'm just happily like, oh, yes, whatever you recommend, I think. We would both be quite adept, I think. Whoever is needed more, I suppose, on Overwatch, as I've done before.

Red, you get a message in your head. We could also do some sort of serenotaberg situation if it comes to it. Yeah, Red's, like, nodding, like, looking. out with it but being like yep exactly that that's what I'm thinking all right let's go and I think we head down the stairs right and me I'll be hiding in the shadows ready to pounce excellent excellent good job I love the idea of door and be like yeah yeah yeah and I'll be right here I'm so ready to pound I admittedly he's like okay right I feel very out of place now oh no it's great don't you have

fly in your ring? I do, yeah. Fly. That's cool. Well, it's got one news. Hey, buddy, you could fly. You can fly. Don't worry about it.

Oh, I'm not that worried. I'm very excited for the rest of you. Well, I'm very excited for you. By the end of this, I think all of us will be using our talents. Never fear. Indeed. Damn straight. All right.

Down the stairs. Let's do it. You descend the wrought iron. staircase. It descends 50 feet to the floor below. Hell yeah. Exciting. Is it a giant staircase or is it a people-sized staircase? It is. Which is, it's challenging for medium-sized creatures to descend giant-sized stairs. These steps are like five feet tall, you know? You're not taking casual steps down. You have to like sit down on your butt

hop down I mean if you fly you're doing that and it's fine but it's challenging for most of you to descend these spiral stairs and they're metal and they're hot so hot right now yeah red is is moving down these and like a drip of sweat falls

from his like forehead and like hits the metal and like sizzles and he's kind of like man am I glad we have those fire elixes I think this would be very, very dangerous otherwise. As opposed to with them, now it's totally safe. Well, let's just make sure we don't take too long. Tamil will sit on the stairs, she'll drop down quietly,

and then she'll turn around, and she'll hold her arms up for Doran, like when you're trying to catch a little kid off of a high place. On the slide. I got you. Doran goes with it. There's no hesitation. He's like, all right, I am heavier than I look. We go,

making up for not throwing him before. I do imagine Tamil is like a big hunky broad, like a big, I don't know if she is. No, she's sturdy. I've imagined her. Like a Brianna-Tarth. I've always thought of her more as like not bodybuilder built, but like climber built, like ropy and like muscular but not like bulky.

I've been trying to think of who Timil reminds me of. you know it just came to me oh my god this is going to be awful don't take this the wrong way zina oh do you remember zina the warrior princess yeah the warrior princess i mean how could you possibly take that the wrong way yeah well i don't know she's got her own image of her own mind is it because she's a lesbian what i didn't know are you an ally no but i Alex are you an ally totally no but i'm just saying like she always is because she's new zealand she's because she's new zealand fuck those kiwis got like a low body fat percentage yeah that's funny though because you mentioned that you were kind of framing a little bit of,

from Ted Lassau, Rebecca Walden, Walde? She's got great arms. I know. She got great arms, but also that's who I, and that's who all I can see. But, like, I think she's probably a tall girl in real life, too, right? Oh, yeah, no, she's like, she's massive. You know, she was also in Game of Thrones.

Was she? She was the shame bell lady, I believe. Oh, yeah, that's right. Anyway, that was just a fun fact, and I would share. Anyway. there is an orange glow coming from a room just to the north of the base of this spiral staircase that sears your retinas if you look at it too long if you recall you had traversed the top of this

room it is home to a enormous pit of lava this is the room that the spiral staircase empties out into. Hugging the wall, Tamil's going to move up a bit to try to get vision into the wider room left and right. Doran's got your back. Absolutely. Yeah. As you move forward into the room, you behold an incredibly large foundry. It's about 275 feet long, north to south. It's about approximately give or take and approximately a 60 foot wide 160 foot long stone trough filled with magma it bubbles it shines it is seductive in its orange glow this magma now that you are closer to it you can see it doesn't have the same like lava thickness of like molten rock this is actually molten iron doran you probably can tell the difference and it is leaking out of these four smelters that line the

perimeter of this pool so this is molten hot iron and it's just roiling away three channels of of this molten iron lead off to the east into three different corridors to whose purpose you do not know. There is a set of double doors that lead to the north. And then there's also, it seems like an exit heading south, but you don't really have a good beat on that. Doren steps in to the room peering at the lava and says, My lord, I've never seen so much molten metal.

one place and that's that's got to be some of the cleanest liquid iron i've ever seen explains all the slag up there if tamil doesn't see any people in the immediate kind of area then she will continue to move up and around the corner and then she will try to again creep up to the corner to look to the corridor in the south to see what's what's down that away's you don't see any movement in this room and as you creep around to the south you observe another set of double doors red will stay on tamil's tail just to make sure the um pass without trace stays active yeah uh she'll hold up once it seems pretty clear and then she will make sure that everybody can regroup yeah everyone roll a stealth check for me just to see how we're doing here uh oh do you say uh oh what do we all

Let's start with Tim. Sounds like you had a good resolve. What did you get? You know, Witt is just having a good time. Witted flew into the room, on his boots of his paldrons of flying. And he's just sort of jetting right over to that equipment. And he's kind of examining, well,

I've certainly never seen the use of the bag of out this scale. Incredible. The logistics of the physics involved in this. And he's kind of like not making the best attempt. could hide himself. He got a seven. Sure. Plus ten.

Oh, that's true. I wouldn't have. So that's 17, I believe, with the pass without trace. That would be 17 in all, yes. Nick, what did Tamil get? Tamil got a 24. Nice. And that's with the pass without trace?

Yes. Spicey. Okay, Wim's got a 29, red? 30. 30. And Dorin. 30, a 28. Okay.

Keep a tight guy. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Red actually, like, calls with it back. Like, wet it, come on. Oh, yes. Yes, certainly, yes, of course. Stage whisper. The past the trace edges are like a bubble, and I bounce off of them.

Like, I'm getting pulled in on a toddler leash. A toddler leash. That's great. I love that. So here's the challenge. Unless you think there's a way out, if you follow these three channels of molten iron, you are facing a set of double doors to the north and a set of double doors to the south.

So you're going to have to open these doors. Now, the handles are nine feet off the ground. So they're going to require either some kind of scaffolding. If only a strong robot could fly. Yeah, a strong robot. Well, wait a bit, a heavy robot. That seems like I could help. Okay, here's a little bit of science for your ass.

Please, would you? If this... Please science the scientist. No, no, no, no. Not in a mean way. I just mean like, here's a little bit of like... If those propulsion thrusters can lift what I would imagine is a 400 plus pound machine, then that means they have that much thrust.

So if he is beneath a lever or, you know, or moving alongside it, he should be able to pull 400 pounds worth of door. One would think. Should have stuck with my science ass. One would think. Dorn at the base of the door pushing. You know, while he's turning the handle up there, it's a few of us.

We could engineer some kind of combined effort for sure. Joe, do the doors open into the room we're in or out? Are they a push or a pull? Are they a push or a pull? Do they have a big sticker room? We'll say both of them are push doors from this location just so that we don't confuse.

That's easy! All right, look, look, look. The important thing is to figure out which of the two doors we want to go through, the one to the north to the south. Why don't we split up and see if we can each detect in some fashion what's on the other side? I'll head north, whoever wants to follow.

Oh, hold on. We came in from that end of the... Up there and that end. And he's pointing to the other. end above like where we came into this room originally and on that side was where um you widd's uh little mechanical thing saw the the group of giants so i mean it would make most sense if if the giants in the hall were in that door kind of pointing across the lava lake to the north yeah right the north door agreed would make sense if the giants were through the north

door, no? Yeah, why don't we go up there and see what we can sense? Yeah, but I mean, it's probably also a good idea to figure out what, what is beyond this door as well, pointing to the south door. Yep, that's exactly what I said. Uh, you know what we don't want to get pinned down in here. Good idea, Doran. Let's split up. I'll head to the north and see if we can figure out what's on that side of the door. Someone figure out with the south side of the door. These are big heavy stone doors, yeah? Not really easy to kind of put your ear up to them and listen for stuff. Depends how good your ears are and what's going on on the other side. I would have to imagine there's like a small space either beneath or between.

Like there's got to be some wiggle room. Wiggle room, thank you. You would think. You keep saying that. Tamil will go to the southern doors and she'll try to just find a crack. She'll try to put her ear to the door. She'll try to do just a baseline perception something. She'll try to figure out if she can, without opening the door, see what's on.

the other side just as an initial thing and red taking three steps towards the north stops and goes ah you know what let's just do it all together i don't want to leave you guys without pass without trace in case there's something on the other side listening smart yeah okay good idea and dorin starts to move towards the same door but i do think that you're right dorant that it does make sense that that would be the direction that would you know bear the most fruit but since we're here anyway i'll just do a quick little check we don't really know i mean hey he might have left he might have left he could have just up and love would you like me to do a perception check? I very much would. All right. Yes, please. Can I help you

with that in any way? I mean, you can also make a perception check, but you can't, you're not going to like cup your hands to her ear. I mean, during my try. What are you doing? Can I help her unsuccessfully? Sure, I had a disadvantage. Whisper in her ear. Listen, listen really hard to me. Listen hard. Doran, you press it smells like cheese. It's awful. I don't know how to be cheese. I got a I got a 21. 21. No, did you get 21? 21 perception.

Hey, nice. Tamil, as you listen at the door, you do hear something coming from the room beyond. I'm Duke's old, all alone. I sure wish my friends would come and have dinner with me, but I'm just going to sit here with my eyes closed and think about the bowels.

Back to the door, kneeling. I'll sleep here on the floor. Is he saying anything about what? Where he's putting the device that controls the voted up. Yeah. Might as well take this conch off. I'm going to put this Vaughn and Don deletion button in my trousers. I'm just going to pat in my pocket to make sure that the key to the Von and Dodd's destruction is still there.

Tamil, as you put your ear to the door, you do hear something. You hear the familiar sheet of a blade. and then sort of a clattering sound. And then you hear it again. And again, it's rhythmic. It sounds like the clattering sound is like many different metal sounds together. I will describe that to everyone else.

Does this remind me of anything? I mean, it definitely feels like it could be some kind of armor or weapon sound? It sounds I can't quite put my finger on it but it could roll insight. I will absolutely roll in sight. Yeah, 22.

Hmm. Sounds like a weapon being dropped on a pile of weapons over and over again. It sounds a bit like someone's just dropping a weapon on other weapons, but... Wait a minute, wait a minute. I think I know that sound. What is it,

What do you think it is Doran? What is it, boy? Dorn's going to roll as well. Yeah, yeah, roll insight. Because if it's the sound of weapon, I mean, you never, I mean, being a blacksmith, right? Maybe I'll narrow it down. So roll perception to listen for yourself. And 11.

Yeah, you don't hear the initial sound, but you do hear the clatter. Yes. And now you can roll insight and let's see if you get any more. Roll insight with advantage for your blacksmithy experience. Okay, that's going to be a set. Yeah, it's the same as Tamil. You hear what she's hearing and you kind of put the same pieces of the puzzle together. Like, yeah, it sounds like there's a lot of weapons getting jostled around in there.

And he does. Yeah, yep, I think that's it, Tamil. I think you hit the nail on the head. Or rather, the sword in the pile, if that's a phrase. I don't know. Let me have a listen here. Red squeezes by and puts his head up to the wall without having any ears. Whim is just standing there with her arms crossed, like, I hate this listening game.

Red really just wants to decipher if it sounds like a large weapon. Sure, sure. Like a giant-sized weapon or a regular-sized weapon. Give me a perception. With advantage. No. What? Doran's whispering in your ear now.

Stop it, Doran. That's a 21. I mean, so you hear the sounds, yes. And then insight to give you. Thoughts. Thoughts and feelings about this sound. That is a 25. Nice. Yeah, these sound like big, big, big weapons, probably swords, maybe some spears, hard to tell.

An armory. They're putting giant weapons together, which could help. I wonder. I mean, if they're all feasting, clearly their weapons aren't on them at the moment, I mean, dismantling this. whole operation within here could help in the long run. So sabotage their weapons? So you think maybe they're taking weapons off here? What? No, I think they're forging weapons here.

Oh. I think they are forging weapons using the molten iron there, but turns around and points at the molten iron, then smelting them down to sharpen them and put them into a large pile of fire giant weapons. It seems like a good option. Is this a

now option or a later? No, no, God, no. I think this is a good time to tackle a common misconception about blacksmithing. Is it? Yeah, they never, they never poured molten metal into a mold to create, because that's cast iron. And it's very brittle and it's not good at all for. I'm just going to show you one thing on this map. I'm going to, I'm going to show you that that's wrong.

Look. Yeah, see. I guess if you're a giant, if you're like a fire giant, there's a certain. amount of like brute forcing. If you just have a big thing of metal that's roughly sword shape, you could probably do a bunch of damage with it. That's true. Plus, if it's cast iron, you can cook on it.

Seriously, yeah. And you just got to season it when you're done. And then it's easier to clean than you think, yeah. Put eggs on my sword. I think we should check the other doorway. Yeah, it's an armory. Yeah, let's check the other doorway. Hey, I do want to mention our friend passed away out front, obviously,

and I did take a look before we ascended the steps to, see if anything remained and there wasn't anything but a part of me thinks that maybe some of his magic items still remained and if there's a way I wouldn't mind trying to look for them he had a few sentimental and quite powerful artifacts that I wouldn't mind getting hold of if we could just put in the bug in everyone's here I think of an armory room like this and I think hey there might be a storage place around here too you know oh they would be collected and then and then brought in yeah it's not that you want to go check where he was all right um Sorry. I'm making assumptions, but I assume yes. I mean, look, Duke's Alto is a leader.

They like the wealth and our friend had a lot of wealth, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of those items end up on Duke's Alto's own fingers, if you know what I mean. Well, let's go check it out then. Yeah, so I think that Timil will start leading the charge up to the north around the kind of like west side of these smelter. I think Red urges everyone to be extra quiet here I'm getting a bad tummy feeling about this pool Yeah It wouldn't make any logical sense

For a creature to be in here But it is Dungeons and Dragons That's kind of my thing Well, okay So I feel like Somehow I have in my head That there are like fire salamanders That are in here

And I'm pretty sure I don't know if those can canonically exist In molten metal But anyway, a creature that would find comfort sitting in a hot pool of something isn't totally outside of the level of possibility. Yeah. Like, in that vibe. And I'm just kind of like, maybe it's just because it reminds me of that Lord of the Rings scene with the creature reaching out of the water. It's just like, lava creature.

As you pass to the west of this first river of molten iron, you can't. a glimpse of movement within the chamber beyond. To the right? Correct. There is a giant in there. Holy Forge. all right now i'd like to just thank our wonderful patrons uh now what i've done is i've just created a list here let me just pull this out of my okay here we go uh thank you to lita jay christopher Colin

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Red is a Spanish this time. Buenos not. Nobody expects this. That sounds more Italian. Italian. Italian, Red. Transylvanian Red. Doreen, you goofball.

What do you mean? We're shifting everyone's character voices, one to the left. We're going to go clockwise. I'll do Temeel. 100%. Timiel and Red switch and we're looking at the same. I don't think

Timil and Red said that similar. We're more British. Ish. 100%. I'm going to lean more into like a ratatooey kind of thing for Witted actually. Oh, that's good.

I do Doren. Yeah. If I do Doren with an Italian accent, it sounds like Wado. What do you want? It's a me. That's really good.

Is it me. Awarro. And the king. I desperately want this alternative universe. Why does everyone have to go, uh, at the beginning? Because he's an alien. It's a me. Dora and I on the fistio.

Fistio? That sounds bad. That sounds dirty. That sounds really good. It's no good. It's not good. No. You cheat.

Fuck, that's funny.