Dice Shame - 2-161 | 'Game Point'

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

With some downtime before returning to Dead Snows, the party plays a game...._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________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, claustrophobia Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I didn't realize you had that gear. We did it last night, Doran. Yeah, I'm gonna get some tea going. Why do you want to play Dragon Chess? Fair and Square. Genome is showing, but... Wow, I gotta say, this is so cozy. Oh, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Wait, what are you gonna do with Reggie exactly? No, no, no, that's the horsey. Why are you guys playing? If you win, what do you want from me? He's gonna listen in. Just tell us all what you were thinking. 50 on Temeel. Dorn's like, are you two gonna play?

You've been staring at the game. I'm just talking about how I just think it is. Are they paused? Welcome back to Dice Shame. This is Season 2, Episode 161, Game Point. MVP this week is Liam. Liam left us a positive review on Apple Podcasts. If you like the show, go ahead. and leave a review too.

And maybe next week, you can be our MVP. Thanks for listening, Liam. Thanks, Liam. All right, shall we do this? Yeah, let's play some dandy. Yeah. Woo. So, there was a lovely question from somebody on the server.

It's Liz. Liz 182. Great, very good. Liz on the server was talking about, they were curious about how Tamil's warlock patron is going to come into play because Tamil doesn't seem like the kind of like, you know, like archetypal warlock. And so my question is, for you guys when you're creating characters or when you're looking at, you know, like, or you're thinking about character concepts, how much does the kind of like

traditional presentation of a class impact how you design. So if you were like, I want to play a moody kind of emo character. So my choices are limited to Warlock and Rogue, because those are the moody evil characters. Oh, I want to play like a jokester character, so I have to play a bard, you know, versus just like, I'm going to take mechanical things from this class and then I'm going to skin it just some fun way. I absolutely fell into that trap And I picked the most heroic Fighter that I could

I was like this guy's going to be like You know, you're a classic I don't know Alpha fighter Yeah iconic But that's such a silly Like it's not really silly But I definitely did not consider that

But looking back That's exactly what I did You went hard into the Dwarven lore too You were like I was born from an egg I want to be the dwarfiest dwarf there ever was. I was born from an egg. We didn't talk about it. Dwarves are canonically born from eggs.

To Alex. I don't know. Great question. I definitely fall into that as well. And I think like when you role play for long enough and we've all done it now, I do think there's like when you start out falling into those trope, sort of pre-described tropes, thank you, is like just a default way to connect. And then you sort of have your second wave of gaming where you're like, oh, I'm going to be a dwarf with a rolling pin in a silly voice.

But then I find when you get past that second stage, which sometimes is the longest, you sort of fall into this area of like, oh, like sometimes leaning into that traditional classic trope is just as enjoyable. Like it's almost more of a challenge to play a character following that set trope than it is to just kind of do whatever you want all the time. I personally speaking tend to fall into those but I'm such a contrarian that I actively try to like and it's not natural but I actually like okay I'm going to play a rogue

but I'm really going to work against the grain to play them not like a rogue because I don't want to fall into that because on a personal level I'm a big believer in like gray morality and gray characterization like I love characters that have the skill set of a villain

but are you know something totally opposite um so that's that's personally how i view it what about you joe i mean it's been a minute since i've made a character i think when i'm sitting down to create a pc i i create someone that i want to play and the thing that they want them to do kind of separate from each other or at least i try to so i don't think i really let the archetype of the class inform the personality of the character as much as I can. Because I think abstractly, I kind of want to get away from the idea that like what you do is who you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's a good way to looking at it. But again, it's been like a couple years. It's tough, though. Like I couldn't see red as a paladin. You know what I mean? Like, if he was like, ah, bingo, bingo, bingo, bongue, I'll use my moaning star. I'd be like, this feels weird. But like, they're like, everyone's seeing.

a hundred like strict paladins I agree you know but that's what I'm saying like why I actively fight against the trope but like my default is like that's the voice I hear when I hear a paladin speak is like that yeah yeah I think at the end of the day it's mechanics first for me I like what everybody's kind of said but at the end of the day what I think I like most about making characters is a when a new player who doesn't necessarily like I don't know what

tropes they know. They've probably seen Lord of the Rings. That's like a safe place to start. But have they read the books and like what do they know about D&D necessarily? And it's really cool if they name a trope very often it's like oh yeah D&D it's essentially like a goalie. It's like can I

catch this pitch? Like they're going to maybe only make a couple of a pitches as it were for an idea for a character that they're really excited about. So when I ran a Star Wars RPG and one of my friends, girlfriends wanted to play, she's like, can I be an Ewok with like a banter that I hit people with?

I'm like, there's a class for this. Like we can fit this the warrior type? Like, can we make this concept work within the boundaries of the rules that this game can do? Whether it's the trope that they're kind of like, they're like, wait, can I be like an assassin? Like

not a fighter, but someone who kind of sneaks up on people? I'm like, Boy, do I have news for you? And there's a whole class. And yes. The answer is hard, yes. And there's, oh, and there's different types. And they start getting really, really excited.

And then another time, it would be like, I want two eagles who fight for me. And I'm like, I'll find you this. It may be a Beast Master Ranger or maybe you might be re-skinned. To your spells as being these two eagles, like I've done these kind of re-skinnings in different ways. So it's always like the mechanics are always going to serve, whatever the story. is however stereotypical or not stereotypical is. Yeah. That's a wild thing for someone to come to you with.

Like, I don't know what D&D is, but I want two eagles. And if I can get that. That was a request. No, but like playing with people who've never played before yeah, like someone who's never played before doesn't know, doesn't have any preconceived notions about what classes can and can't

be. Like, I mean just like they're pulling it from some lore that they're aware of, right? It's not even about tropes at that point. It's just like, oh, I I read a book one time where there was this character that was beautiful and had two eagles. Exactly. And that's how they're contributing.

Like this logic could be based off of Smash Brothers for all we know. It's like, well, his power is you can jump really far. I'm like, well, that's not really, okay. I mean, I guess, yeah, you could have a jump-based character in this. And then I look like an idiot when the jump-based character, like, is winning every adventure because actually, like, jumping turned out to be great in this. And I didn't even think, I, I, creativity. wins every time in either direction it's really funny i think i think so long as all of this comes

earnestly i think we've all also been there where like you're at a table of convention someone's like i want to i want to jump really far and you're like yeah why and they're like because i want to be ultraman or something stupid and they're you know what i mean and i think this goes back to sort of where where like as long as there's like an earnestness to like participate in the world yeah it's so fun to fulfill those but if you're going to use them to like exploit or even make fun of the of the game, that it's never fun. Those are the people that I punished with rules. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. It's funny you mentioned this because in my own, like, midweek, you know, doing the dishes and I'm, like, brainstorming, like, and I can't get my hands dry enough, fast enough to put down notes. I thought you were going to say midweek game. And I was like, you play another RPG. It's the game, my head, that just continues to go and go and go. And I guess in my head, I think to myself, how can I continue to expand on my character? So, like, I'm thinking about, oh, what's going to happen that's going to cause me that I want to learn magic? It's going to happen eventually.

I'm already developing how to work it into my story. Two eagles. Two eagles. Swoop in. Two eagles that you want to fight for you. You know what's better than two eagles? One's not enough. Call me, Doreen.

Two eagles are in first. There are two eagles fighting inside you. One is named Trevor. Opposable eagles. It's when you get two eagles that you go. really do a lot of... You need the pinch action. And he flew in on four eagles.

Wow, he's twinned his spell. Two eagles tied to each hand. Two eagles tied to each foot. Or one eagle tied to every. You know what I'm trying to say here. There's four eagles. Quad eagle coughed. And they're pulling me through the air.

On strings is one big eagle now. Giant hair. I want to play an eagle. Oh, my God. Should we play some Dungeons and Dragons, please? Yes. Yeah, let's do it. Yay!

Absolutely. Gliding. So the five of us make camp tonight. It's a lot more pleasant. We're able to have a campfire if we like. Yeah. The Tiny Hut tonight has some new additions. including a place where,

because we've seen Bessie in her compacted form, right? Yes. Like there's a place for, that's like very backpack shaped that's clearly meant for that. And then the furniture is, there's furniture that's been added like chairs that it's very like gnome shaped

as though it's an invitation for Witted to just kind of like be him and not necessarily in. Kick off as Bessie. And you've even seen that when he, when he has the chance and like gets out of the suit and packs it up he'll tend to like there's a seat like a recess that but it's like an airplane it doesn't look very comfortable it's like more like a go pot like right now suit up so you see him kind of take the you know bessie up uh take her off take off the backpack and instead of sitting on her like he usually does he goes over and sits to the nomish furniture so he looks much more at home now there's also a little nook up in the rafters for reggie Oh, yes, absolutely. Doren comes in with a pile of chopped split logs

and starts placing them on this fire pit that's in the middle of the Lianman's tiny hut. Wow, I got to say, this is so cozy in here. It just makes me want to stay for the whole evening. We should do this more often. Oh, and he's just like this buzz about... You did it last night, Doran. Well, I know, but I'm just saying with the snow flying out, and I'm just going to get, I'm going to get some tea going.

Oh, I couldn't agree more. It's so lovely. He sits down and rolls a cigarette. Thank you, Temeel. Oh, I'm glad you're enjoying it. And Red, you may have also noticed that there is a small writing desk if you wanted to send a letter to your daughter. Oh, yeah. Red stands up. Oh, you know me.

Good old penmanship, Red. Oh, yep, well, and you like kind of like awkwardly, stiff-leggedly washing. blocks towards it. Yeah, better get the old quilled out, and I know how all the letters, and I can put them in an order that would definitely work and make sense, so there's no problem. I could upgrade that

pet if you ought to write faster. I could make it go a lot faster if you really want to get a lot of writing. I already write so fast. It's like a blink of an eye that, in fact, I might as well wait till all you are blinking your eyes in a long form to write, sleeping, because there's

no need. I'd be, I would just be here, know and he's like like dancing around the desk like one finger on it like oh you know it's just but so thoughtful so thoughtful love homework you know it feels really if mood takes you it's there for you to use or anyone to use and i love it in fact in fact and red turns around you like writes a quick letter and then folds up yeah and i thank you note for you to meal and he walks over and hands it to you what is it what's on there yeah That's like, H-T-N-K. I think maybe he's like dyslexic.

Maybe that's the thing. He's like, ah, there you go. Thank you, note. Timil will look at it. Ah, I see. Well, they won't all be winners. And then she'll just kind of play. What?

I had this little image of, uh, of witted bouncing around. You know, now that he's out of his seat, out of his Bessie and like we're cozy. He gets overly confident. It's like, oh, your gnome is showing, bud. As much as he does prefer to stay in Bessie, you're really seeing him, it's true, and his kind of gnomish element, where he is, like, kind of moving around much more fluidly and quickly than he otherwise would. And you're kind of like, why wouldn't you always, all right, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, hey, Witted. Is there anything domestic that Witted other, is there something that he, like, does, when he's not focused on, like, mechanical stuff? Is there, like, does he like to cook? Is he a decorator? Is he a new degree? He doesn't seem to have expressed other hobbies that we've become aware of,

and at least not a beat. Not that I think of come up. We know about his nine to five, but what's his five to nine? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. What does he do in his sleep time? This is a, at this point becoming a noticeable feature, I feel like, about what it is that this armor hyperfixation is very much been, you know,

You know, he's now noticing other people doing other things, and it's very much opening him up. I think then that as part of a, like a new knightly routine, Tamil is starting to offer to play dragon chess with Witted or like kind of like, you know, challenging him to a game or something. That's wicked. Why do you want to play dragon chess? Yes, I've read, I've read a couple of books, but I haven't actually played the game before. The strategy of it and the complexity of it seemed like it might be something that would be, you know, in your wheelhouse. You've never played, but, you know, if you ever want to. It's much akin to the same concepts that go into all kinds of work in which opposites are being thrust against each other.

There's physics within it. There's engineering built into, I mean, Dragon Chess is a very cuttingly created. Okay, I'm very curious what it's like to play it. Does anyone have a board? I just suggested it. Doran does, yeah. Yeah, you've lost a bunch of times to a dog. I did.

Okay, logically. What? Doran's like doing push-ups over on, like, the side, and he's over hearing the conversation, and he's like, it's like preparing for battle. You've got to get your mind in the game. You've got to make sure you're, you've got your people in the right position, and then make the right move or the right time.

He's lost to a dog 35 times. Or why are you guys playing? Do you have a dragon chest set? And he stops and he goes over his pack and he pulls out his dragon chest set. He's like, here, teach him. I think it'll be good. And he hands it to you, Timil.

And he goes back to like doing his workouts. Oh, thank you, Doran. I was going to... Listening to his Joe Rogan podcast. Yeah. Before he gets his macro smoothie. I'm on a carnivore diet. Thank you, Doran.

I was just going to cobble something together. but this is perfect. What does it look like? Funny you should ask. They're like iron slag, literally, that have been... That one's a rook. That one's just like pieces of iron and he's like trying to explain it. It's indistinguishable from each other.

They're like, just lumps. No, no, no, that's the horse seat. There are pieces of iron slag that have been filed into very ornate looking, like not super skilled, but you can, you know what they are, and you can tell they've been done by hand. Like rustic, rustic dwarven kind of. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm not an

artist per se, but they are made from, you know, leftover slag that I had lying around, I decided to take it upon myself. And the board, I had that made by my cousin, who is a stone mason, and it's all like marble

and granite. There's like two different colors. This is... fucking heavy board. Beautiful. Just carrying in his pack. He's a dwarf girl. Well, it's small. It's a travel size.

You know. Oh. Oh, yeah. They open it up and there's like three levels or whatever. The pieces are like magnetic. So like ride a horseback. Play in the car. Like pass it back in the horse.

Travel size. Back in a wagon. Well, Doran, this is quite lovely. I mean, would you like to help me teach him? Red, do you know how to play? What? No. Whim, it takes a village to teach a gnome dragon chess, as they say, that old chestnut.

Wim waves her hand. She doesn't care about dragon chess. Nah, we're not dragon chess, me and Wimmy. We're playing our own game, and you see them with, like, a deck of cards, and they're throwing them out, like a pumpkin. I love it. You pull out cards, like you have a deck of cards, and then you just see you're throwing cards at a pumpkin. One's backwards at first. Whim's doing that thing where, like, when kids are getting bored.

She's, like, lying on her back, like, upside down, trying to do it because she's, like, tired of being right side up. So she's, like, she's trying to do a stupid handstand. When you win, play, do you have any pickles? Go fish. She falls down. But in response to her, I was like, no, no, no, you go ahead and teach him. I'll just, I'll just work. I'll just do my stuff over here.

And then you can see him kind of at the corner of his eye. He's going to listen in and learn how to play as well. I guess he's lost to a fucking dog a bunch of times. It was aspirational carving. Yeah, okay, cool. No, he put, so canonically, he played with a dog many, many times on the show and kept losing. It was Kieran. It was a, familiar.

It was the ex-w Wizards. This happened. Familiar, yeah. So he can consistently played against the familiar. But I do love the idea is like, and lost over and over and over. You can swap a pawn with a rook if you get to the other side. I didn't know. Learning by losing.

I love it. Okay. Cool. Yeah. I'll just listen. Maybe I'll learn something. He kind of says under his breath. Yeah. So I guess Tamil goes about like maybe even realizing the Doren is listening and cheats out a little and speaks more loudly than she would otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Was Widdott being honest when he said that he had read a couple books on? He was being honest. He read about theoretical dragon chess and has never actually played a game. He also says out loud and not knowing that Doran is listening ironically, just blatantly says,

I actually couldn't have surprised that he put it any better than Dora just did. What I'm particularly interested in is this idea of being ready to play, as it were, being in the spirit as he so eloquently was describing it. I want to know what it's like to care about a game and be trying. trying to win the various miscalculations that could happen when what is so invested. Well, then perhaps to that end, and in that spirit, we should make this more interesting. Would you care to wager? This had not occurred to win it, and you see his legs kick for just a little moment.

This is exactly what I'm talking about, precisely, precisely. You have my thoughts exactly on the matter. If I invest, he's acting like this is a completely not. novel concept to him. Uh, buddy, uh, or any of my belongings, it makes the, uh, intensity and value of the match that much more measurately, uh, exhilarating. Oh, goodness. How much were you thinking of wagering? Oh, ho. Well, we could wager coin, you know, as everyone does. And she kind of rolls her eyes a little bit. A commonplace strategy. Or we could, we could instead, um, suggest our own prizes.

If you win, what do you want from me? Oh, oh. Well, if not valuables, I would certainly be inquiring as to what your most powerful magic item would be. Whoa! He does not see to see where the end of that thought process would be. And he's being, he has not occurred to him how boring that is, but Tim thinks that that's like, blah, bop, like he's, well,

he's like that's the correct answer right valuables sure yeah yeah fair enough i think that would at this point be this uh catstone this luckstone if i win i would like to be able to um take reggie out for a spin at first you can tell he is not thought through the full consequences of this when he just says, well, objectively, the value of a stode of luck is commensurately much more than the value that could be derived from Reggie. Despite his incredibly adequate abilities, I think that it's just I don't know how you would recruit the value of a stode of luck.

I'll certainly take you up on that deal. Well, excellent. And as to compensatory value, I think that you'll find value is very much a personal. thing. And what is valuable to one person might not be as valuable to another person. I have all of the magic items that I feel I need.

I would like to play with your robot. He nods and says this game is already going very much in my favor. Wait, what are you going to do with Reggie exactly? And Red turns to whim and he just signs 50 on Tamil. Whim signs,

oh, I'll take that action. Joe, can we come up with a Dragon Chessman? Is there one that exists already or can we come up with one so we can actually play this game? I don't know. Let's, I mean, I'm going to presume that for this first session, neither Timile nor Witted are planning on any slight of hand or deceit. I think I play it straight. Do you imagine how fucking shitty that would be of Timmiel to be like, let me teach you a game. I know this is the first time we brought up, but I'm cheating. Man Witted, you suck. I thunderwave the table. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reveals, Tamil, such a mean loser. Just got, like, three palmed pieces of the chest. Right. You have two kings.

That's great. Additionally, I mean, Doren has proficiency with this, like, gaming set because he has this soldier background, I believe. Neither of you have proficiency with the set, I presume. No. So I would say that from what we can, like, presume about the game of drag, Dragon Chess is it's probably a game of intelligence. What are your modifiers just as a matter of curiosity for intelligence?

Well, mine's a negative one. Okay. Oh, wait, it's coming in with a plus five. All right. Doran's a zero. You're smarter. There you go. You're smarter.

Yeah, that's why you're losing against Kieran, because Kieran had a plus one, I believe. Yeah. Let's do best of three. Yeah. Nick, you're rolling with advantage. intelligence contest and we'll go from there. You mentioned the stone of good luck, the very thing that is up for ante in theory, but I believe that if this is a skill check, even if it's not using a skill proficiency,

if it's just an ability check for intelligence, I think you still get the plus one from that stone. Oh, I'll take that, yeah. So now it's an ability check, but not relying on a skill. I have, cool. All right. I love this thought that, like, while we're in meta, everything, everything is, meta. While we're in meta, everything is paused.

Dorn's like, are you two going to play? You've been staring at the game for a couple minutes now. Just talk about how I just think it is. Are they paused? All right. So roll one, here we go. Absolutely. Are we doing, yeah, rolls on roll 20.

Okay. Or, or. Oh, my God. I did bad. Well, you're rolling with advantage. I did bad. No. On the dice, a three and a five.

Wow. Nick. Listen. Well, it's best of three, so. Temeel dumb. I got, oh, I only got a five, but it's a ten total. Yeah. Okay.

Wow. So the first match goes to Witted. I seem to be getting the hag of it. This is starting to make a lot of sense to me. Yes. Yes, I see what I'm doing here. You're a natural. Hmm

Well, it looks like he's kind of got you there, right? Second game, let's see how it goes. Oh, and Witted just rolled a natural one. Oh, five. I got a 13. Tamil got a 13. Take them down, Tamil. I mean, a good try, Witton.

Wait, wait, no, this isn't making any sense. No, wait, hold that, hold out. And you can tell you almost want to like, pause the game, pause the game. You can't pause it. Can we go back to moves? It's multiplayer. I can't pause the game. I can't pause the game.

You took your hand off the piece, Witted. The next time you're going to go there. Classic mistake and I see why you're made it, but make sure to keep an eye on your backline. Ooh. Temeel pull a red rook. On your upper back line. How did this happen? Ugh.

I think I'm lurting. Final roll. Ooh, 16 plus 5, 21. Wooted feels really confident. And Tammiel got an 11. Yeah. Wait, and... Well, blast!

Yes, yes. Okay, it's working. All right, I see. And you can tell Wittage really excited about winning. Not being a gloating jerk about it, he just seems really happy that his strategy is paying off right now. Yeah, so I think that means that Witted won

without, like, hesitating. Tamil pulls the Lugstone out of her bag and just, well, you deserve this. fair and square. No, no, but if you, I could tell, I could almost sense, I didn't have detect magic running, but I could almost sense how it was impacting the gameplay. That's another thing I want to study is actually how quantum magic like this can impact. It's just fascinating. How many different factors come together. No, you hold on to the luckstone. It's more interesting when you have it. And I, and you can tell he's not, he's like looking at all the

different, we could play it with different rules even. And we could, if you were to do modifications like I really like how once I understood how the rook is supposed to be used but you could modify the rules at such interesting ways it's it's intricate and he just leaves it at that like you realize oh wait that's like maybe the highest

compliment that Witted could play to a game and he goes could we play a game oh goodness what time is it right now it's far too late Red says as he hands 50 bucks to win You notice that Wim's actually curled up beside you At some point during the second game She had enough and she is fast asleep

And Red tucks $50 into her little curled hand It's an IOU He looks as you do that And he sees like oh it's like you can tell He's like oh everyone's energy is like way dampened And he's just like so jazzed up And he goes another night then Doren's lying there sort of like

leaning back on a on a on a on a rock and a pillow type thing and he's sharpening his blade and he's got a cigarette half burnt in his mouth and he's like oh beginner's luck eh widd i gotta tell you that that's that's good that's good that's a good sign because it comes in it comes in handy now tamil i'm not really worried about you it's just a game he proudly says i believe it was i believe it was because tell like how he kind of won through some elements of luck at the game and he, I believe it was. Whatever, I always hated this piece

anyway. It picks up a piece and throws it. All right, maybe it is bedtime. Stupid rook. This is the one that made Tamil lose my $50 I owe you. Shame the rook. All right. Well, I guess we got a big day in the morning. So, um...

Timil, you notice on your bed spread at some point during the evening Wim had put the little doll that she finished and tucked it in on your things. Tamil sees the little poppet on the red spread and she picks it up and then

almost unconsciously her hand kind of goes into her own pocket where the remnants of her sisters familiar are and she suddenly just is kind of overcome

both with the sadness of not being with her sister, of feeling like she let her down, and also with the hope of, well, maybe she's still alive. And then she kind of looks around at everybody settling in for the evening, and her eyes linger for a little bit on Wim, who's made this thing for her, on Doren and Red, who've been so welcoming, on Witted, who is, like, exploring new sides of himself

as part of this connected group. And I think that she falls asleep with this almost feeling guilty for this sense of contentment over the connectedness of the group. Doran, he stands up and leaves Liam in's tiny hut and taking in that cold night air with the moon in the sky. And it's just like this solitude. and that's when he takes another moment to, like, just kind of reassess things, see where things are, remember the people that have passed, and then taking a look around calls it as well. I think the next time we see our party, we're, like, all standing, like, in the road looking at the town of Dead Snows.

There it is, Dead Snows. This is a town built in the shadows of the southern range of the Ralvin Mountains. It is a walled town, a walled city, and it's built around the ruins of this huge abbey. Much like the first time that Red and Doran and Wim had made their way to dead snows, it is a bustling town. There are all different kinds of people making their way in and out of the city. You see dwarves, humans, half elves, halflings. There's like a teafling, there's a dragon boar. Compared to a lot of different settlements you've been to,

this is a diverse place. And it's also kind of ramshackle in appearance. In contrast to the old quarried stone of the abbey, there is like brickwork, plywood, shingling. Angles have done, like everyone's kind of like cobbled things together around these other larger, toppled down ancient buildings. So it's a very distinct-looking civilization. Well, there she is. Dead snows. Look, I don't know. It's pretty busy, busier than I thought. What if we wait till nightfall, you know? We lockpick the back door of the rookery. We sneak up and we just send as many letters as we want, you know? Doesn't that seem cleaner?

I'm game. We can wait. I can also make us vanish, but I suppose being invisible and at night is an even more improved situation. Yeah, that's true. I mean, look, I don't want to waste any time. Obviously, we have a lot on our plate and a lot of pressure, so I'm just trying to think of the easiest way to get what we need. I think you're right. It would definitely be the fastest if we are successful, so it would get us to the Bonadod faster. Yeah, no. Honestly, Red, you know, you do have a good point. If we wait till night and sneak in and sneak out, we'll be able to send those crows off. I mean, of course, the other side of it is, what if they're sleeping? I mean, they are crows. I think they're ravens, aren't they? Oh, no, crow's office, right?

Canon. Well, ravens are crows. There's still birds. It's birds sleep at night. I don't think they're not. I don't think they're real. Wim slings her travel pack down against the base of a tree. sort of settles in like she's ready to wait and then she signs up at you that brings up a good point how are we going to get to the von and dod fast enough from here well well you know maybe uh this person ruby what's a name again uh carilla gemster whoa Alex pulled the correct name fastest of all Wow. That, I think, is a podcast first. It's Cordolia.

Yeah, that's right. Jem, Ruby, gem, whatever. You know, she may have some pretty powerful trinkets. You know, maybe if things go south. And remember how we talked about fighting, maybe one of the leverages is a teleportation spell or a flying ship. We had one of those ones.

It blew up. Well, you know, I've never really investigated it myself, but I heard that there was an old broken teleportation circle in the abbey in Dead Snows. Is it possible there's another one somewhere close, maybe, in Citadel Feldspar? You're only fucking telling us this now! I'm sorry, thank you. Oh, my gosh. So it does.

I didn't realize you had that gear. Oh, that would be perfect. Yes. We know this one in Evelyn. for sure, and that's just south of silvery moon. Let me be clear, the one in the abbey is definitely a little

broken, and I think dangerous to use in its current state, but maybe, I don't know, Witted, are you familiar with that kind of technology? Broken teleportation circles are not the easiest thing to fix, but they are far, and he kind of almost cracks the knuckles

of the suit, far from the most difficult thing that I have brought back into repair. And frankly, if it even is operational, we could get it to give us a ride to Citadel Feldbar. I feel quite confident about that. There must be one in Citadel Felt Bar. Look, I mean, the dwarven fortresses, they're key places. And we have great relations with Chaos Hammer.

Worst case scenario, Everland is right south of Silvery Moon, and that gives us an opportunity to head there, too. So we got options. That's a brilliant idea, Timu. All right. Well, then? If only there was a way to confirm whether there was an ancient teleportation circle at Citadel Feldbar or somewhere close to it. Ancient Dwarven Magic! Of course!

Use your force! That's a goody. All right. Well, that does change our approach then. Maybe if the goal now is to end up in that fighting rink, then maybe fuck the cover of darkness. Maybe we go in there quick. We get to that rookery. We send as many letters as we can,

and then we count on being confronted by Carilla. Then we use whatever leverage we can to get into that fighting arena and get beneath it to the abbey where we can access the teleportation circle. Whim signs, did you finish all those letters read? Oh, yeah, like I got seven of them on the letters. Wait, oh, yeah.

Of course I wrote them. Yeah. Do you mind if I, um, just take a look? Oh, I'm self-conscious. It's totally fine. Dorn-proof read. Red, if you just tell me what you want to say, I can write the letters. Just tell us all what you are thinking.

That's a great idea. You know what? Let's do that. That's a good idea. In fact, that's a great idea. Yep. So maybe we spend the morning, like, writing letters and going down. Red's dictating.

Dictated but not Red. Add that to everyone. Yes. Red tells Witted all of the people. Yeah, Red, you can absolutely just list everybody who's been a vital part of your journey so far. I think that's everyone. Are you doing? Witt is recording all these names and looking up at some of those with great interest. The pen just keeps going. He is not actually writing. The pen's just writing on its own. Cool. Nice.

And, I mean, you might as well throw one in there for a harsh night, too. He is a frost giant, but he's friendly. But, you know, he might be dead. So if it comes back, unread, we'll know why. Return to Sender. And not one of those living dead. You know, we've come across those two. Yeah.

Anyway. This is amazing. You have had such impressive exploits to be able to call on some of these people. I must say, I feel quite privileged to be adventuring with all of you. Oh, the privilege is... Can I use this as, I'd like to be inspiring, leadering? Oh, here I thought you were being fucking nice for once, and you're just using that damn ability again. You just snuck that right in.

You always get me with that, Tameel. It's sincere. It's sincere, I mean. Yeah, sure, sure. I see you with your dice back there. Artfully done, I'm like, oh, that's just some good role playing a mechanic, what? Why not both? Yeah, so everybody gets 14 temp HP. Yes, yes. Nice.

Thank you. Cool. Okay, now I'd just like to thank our dear Patreon supporters. I screw all their names down here. Just bear with me. Okay, thank you too. Lita J. Christopher. Colin Burkhart.

Merlin. Adam Frey, Liz, Ruth Ann Reed, Trin. Lorelei Feldman. Merrick's Moon. J.D., Scotty, Haley, Joshua Nance. Nicky. Queen. Shannon Waldner.

Wren? Cass. Joy Rob. Melinda Curley, Estray 96, Moon, Jeanette, H.D., Gabby, Tau, Tea Kettle, Izzy, Anna Lena, Gareth Bradshaw, Abriel, Mizra, Nibia, Nerd Fairy, Oakland, Abby Mae Birkin, Quinn, Manderpants, Stab, Vol Control, Keely Hill, Pan, Axel, Rabid & Cheese, Absolute Ocelli Behavior, Danny, Seer of Tom, Wanderer Fenn, Luna de Maria, Feli, Bird, Starlight, A.K. Trash Panda, Amanda Nicole, Clockwork Phoenix, Lickrott, Kite, Alicia Duh, OB, Merrimo, Luke, Fisher, Knox the Nightshark, Sunny, Zill Street, Liz, Kara, Caspian, BeanFiend, Jagerman Jensen, Roses of Envy, Karen Duley, Minty, Percy, this guy could, Hydrus, Martina, Celeste Jedlick, Lysanne Kleckner, Nick D, Slate Blue Flowers, Sparks, Marino, Ren Gillespie, Scoutgar, Delicate Jaws, Shank, Sacura, AKA Cam, Veritas, Tell, Laura, Jane, Sasha, Busing Star O3, Snick Snick, Jinks, Jyn Blair, Nukwom, Conzo Como, Trinity, Morgan King,

Rona, Loris, Bart, O-W-O-N, Art Jacks, Axe, Arrestu, Libet Reed, Mademoiselle Salamandra, Ray Silvertong, T-K. Haste, Heather Newman, Marshmorrow, Mittens, Fern Ferguson, Harry, Immortal Dragon, Sarah Tonin, Decu Loves Hair, Dylan Ibb, Jesse, Rachel Isaacs, Red Wing Rising, and Milk. It's a good thing I have this all written down because I would never be able to remember some of these names. Have a great one and see you around the battlefield. It was an excellent question, actually. Yay. I didn't mean to say actually, like I doubted it, was a good question.

No, it's okay. I know that you don't respect me as a thinking human being. God. No, I know. No, nobody does. As a person. Oh, as a person. Barely human.

I'm going to shut up. I mean, listen, I've been rocked to my core and I don't think I'll be able to recover. I'm not good with that. So, bye. Contentment over the connectedness of the group. Hmm. That's really deep.

It's a really nice button. 100%. That's cute. Somebody make a fart joke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. Oh, God. Thank you.