Dice Shame - 2-2 | 'Search High and Low'

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Imagine your best game of D&D. The shocks, the twists and turns, the moments that can’t be caught because you just had to be there. That’s Dice Shame.Join our DM Jo, her husband Harlan, their brother Alex & their best friends Rob and Alex as they experience those unmissable, gut-wrenching, heart-aching, joy-filled moments.This legendary AP releases a brand new episode every Thursday morning at 1:20 am!Content Warning: swearing, violence, horror, mental illness and suicide.Part of the Rusty Quill Network Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone. Another death of a friend. I had two. I grabbed two. And it's an original. I drew this after we met, so I'd never forget your features. Let's not be so rude. I'll just do my magic, and you just do yours. Do anybody want to hear about when I was in the war?

He knocked on some teethlings in episode 11. Nobody would listen to me. Not that strong. I've had to learn to pace myself. His name is Remy. Where did you go? I learned it from my mom. I think I might have said something wrong.

No, and neither of us knocked. The door just opened his sleep. You're like talking about knocking and how to get the door opened and just. I wanted to get the door open before we kicked it. And so knocking took second priority. What the hell is this? Rhehr! MVP this goes to Ashes, who's been hanging out with us on Discord.

They recently said, started Dyshame this week. I'm already on episode 20. already tell this binge is going to become my comfort listen for the foreseeable future. Thanks so much for joining us, Ashes. Enjoy horror and all things spooky. As the Halloween season quickly approaches, make sure to check out our sister shows, Malevolent, and Parkdale Haunt. Malevolent is made by Harlan, and it follows a private eye, Arthur Lester, as he searches for an answer about why his sight is missing.

And Parkdale Haunt is co-created by our own Alex Nersal, and it follows Judith and Claire as they renovate their Parkdale home and uncover a dark secret. They're pretty spooky. All right. Should we play some D&D? Let's do it. All right, Alex, bring us into an intro. Well, well, well, if we're going to talk about a few things tonight, we're going to talk about...

Wait, hold on. Hold on. Who said I was talking to you, Alex? This is the real question. I was introducing Alex to do the intro. Alex, too? Take it away. Do the intro?

So wait, who's introing this? You are. Who else? has something cool to talk about. I can run at it like a, like a, like a child chasing a ball into the street. Oh, thank God, it's Pet Cemetery. That means you get another life. Hello and welcome to Dice Shame, an actual play podcast that I am not the host of,

but I'm one of the Alexes that appears on it. Nice. That's very professional. Yes, I know, and I'm just here to, I'm here to mostly just talk about the absurd suits that I own. That's right, Alex. we are here in the lie in the live before we get into it who's going to be Alex and who's going to be Alex because we need to figure out how we're going to call Alex and Alex well I was thinking I would call Alex Nersal Al and then she can call me Betty god damn it has anyone gone by Al before I have I have a little bit yes I mean I used to be in the band with Harlan. It was called Green Division.

Who? So if you guys want to call me Al and Green, that'll work, right? That's like a very unique name. Never been heard before. Al Green? I've never heard of it. Go with it. It's great. You know, might catch on. I like it. Was weird Al taken? I think. But fitting. Oh, one of you is Alex. One of you is different Al. Other Alex. Other Alex. But then can it always change? Yes. Exactly. Exactly.

Oh, we'll just elongate. One of you is Alex. Have you guys seen Shorzie at all? Oh, yeah, yeah. I haven't seen it yet, but I've been binging Letterkenny the last three or four days, and so I'm way in those dumb accents. Oh, my God. I love Shorzy, and it's all shot in my hometown, and it's all inside jokes for Sudbury,

which brings me such joy, but I love the three gyms. They're all named Jim, and they're only going by Jim. So we've got two Alex's, and they're only named Alex. All there is to it. All we'll do is say, hey, Alex, and then when one of you decides to take the plunge and talk, I'll say, no, no, no, the other Alex. I like it. I like it. Let's do it.

Yeah, you know what? Fuck conforming to having to change one of your names. No, no, no, no. We'll just keep it confusing for everybody. I think we should just stick with Alex. I had a friend in university who used to go by his middle name, Alex, but I think we both like. See, okay, here's the problem. My middle name is the name of my character.

Oh. The truth comes out. That is so weird. So as mine. Is it? No. Alex Doren, Alexander,

Iron fist. Alexander Doren, Actool, Iron fist, Lester, Goh. I don't know your other middle name. It'll add a lot of clarity

if I go by my middle name because it's of course Alex. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Exactly. I like it though. We'll just go by Alex and Alex. We have to roll for initiative

every time someone says Alex. On your name. I am all for all of these ideas. I want to refer to Alex Nersal as Nalix. And referring to Alex Guthrie as Gaelix. Except that sounds too much like Nelix and I never liked Nelix. Oh, he was so annoying, was he? He always bothered me.

Needy little guy. A Star Trek character. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, Voyager. He's so needy. Yeah, he didn't need to look. or whatever. Oh, that was the worst.

That's what you and Alex should be. Two licks. No. One licks and two licks? Yeah, two characters in Voyager. They enter a pod, like a transport pod, and they get fused at their core. So, Tuvok and Nelix get combined to become Toulix, which is one of the worst episodes ever. It's awful.

It's a bad name as well. But I'm thinking that Alex and Alex get combined, and we call them Alex, but they're two. You need an audio effect with a little more reverb for when they're. Yeah, just a little bit. Should you play some D&D? Let's do it. Let's do it. Wee.

Following Oslid's directions brings you to Remy's neighborhood, a narrow street with crooked, toothy cobblestones sheathed in ice. Several doorways appear to have been bricked over, windows nailed shut with boards. But here and there, there are signs, of the alley's residence, a seedy bar with gloomy windows called The Hearts Content,

a stairway leading up to some second-story apartments, a cat zigzagging through some trash looking for a mouse. Red Nedges Mari and flips a page in his notebook, and this is a drawing I made of the ship that brought me over here. And there's like a stick-figure drawing of like a ship. He's just like, and this one is Z, I think. And there's like a stick-figure drawing of like a girl with a dress and she was really nice and this is you and he flips together and a picture of you Mari

with like a similar dress and like wet hair I drew this after we met so I'd never forget your features no I don't think anyone's ever drawn me before well here you can have it if you want he like reluctantly slowly hands it towards you can keep it okay good well here instead

a consolation prize and he reaches into his bag and he pulls out his water skin filled with wine and he's like if you'd like some And I just hand him the other sausage. We're such degenerates. Aw, best friends. Let's go knock at the house first. Yeah.

Seems like a logical thing to do. You guys knock at the house. I'm going to check out the seedy bar. Don't worry. I'll stay on topic. Okay. Does anybody want to come with me? Okay, good.

It's better this way. It's fine. Fault rude there for a minute. I'll go with them. I follow Doran. So Mari and Jack, the two of you ascend these slippery stairs to some second-story apartments. I wonder if anybody's going to be home. Yeah.

Are there any lights on? There's three doorways along this landing. They all overlook the alley where you see red and Doran gain access into this seedy bar below you. The cat that we saw. Can I cast animal friendship? because I'd like to use that cat to keep an eye on Red and Doran. So tell me what that looks like. So the cat, I guess it needs to do a wisdom saving throw.

For a cat? No, as intelligence, I guess, is four or higher. But no, I guess it's a cat. It's a smart cat's got a Ph.D. Red versus the cat, who would win? The cat's intelligence is three. So that's fine, because if it's four or higher, it fails. So the beast will succeed on a wisdom saving

Through I be charmed by you for the spells duration And if anyone harms it the spell ends Cat rolled an eight Don't kick the cat anyone It's not higher than 60 and I can do math So I I sort of lean over and I look to the cat And I make that little like

Spspspsps sound But from my hand there comes like a little sort of Gold glowing aura around it And the cat sees it and runs over And comes up to my feet As I pet it, that sort of gold glow just kind of drifts over it and then just sort of settles in. So it just kind of disappears. But the cat now is my buddy.

How long does this last for? It lasts for 12 years. Yes. As long as the cat's alive. 24 hours unless someone like kicks the cat in the face. And I'm just like, hey, you see those two guys were there and I point to the moving shape, especially red because red looks cat like. just follow them and if anything happens

come back to me if anything happens do you do this often with animals yeah I mostly just have been doing it on the way because I've been bored and lonely so I've been hanging out with a lot of squirrels roll an animal handling check with advantage

because you've got salami for a treat and also because it now loves you but my salami I don't want to give it away salami I had two I grabbed two so you have one and I have another I want to give away your salami? Because that's a... It's good charcutory, too.

Let's be clear. It's good shit. I wrote a 12. Yeah, the cat looks up at you and nibbles the salami lovingly. And then hurries after Red. And it actually scoots into the bar after them just as the door closes. Alex, that's worthy of some inspiration. Yay!

Way to go. I have a cat friend now. So you guys climb up the stairs to... I think Jack would probably react to watching her cast a spell. That's a great trick. Where'd you learn how to do that? Trick. I hear the trick and I kind of like...

Cringe a little bit? Yeah, not cringe. I just sort of like... Are you nagging me? Yeah, yeah. Wizards are just the worst for microaggressions. It's a great little trick there. That's a nice party trick.

I just sort of look up at him and I let the paws drag on. a little bit too long. I learned it from my mom. Oh, nice. And, yes, it's small magic, but it's good. And I stand back up and straighten up. And do you remember which Dory said? I definitely do.

Because I don't. Third one up there. And see, Kieran, you get to come with us. You're not on Red Duty anymore. Let's go. Oh, my God. Where did that come from? The Golden Retriever is wearing a hat and a coat and boots.

It's the cutest golden retriever in the world. Canonically. And Mari just goes like, who's a widow guy? Who's a widow guy with a hat? And Jack, Kieran speaks telepathically to Jack. No one else can hear them. Kieran's like, I like her boss. Yeah.

Let's go see what's upstairs. So you're a wizard, Jack? You guys are climbing the stairs and having awkward conversation. I am a wizard. Yeah. I mean, I'm an archaeologist first, I think. I've always liked to center that profession. It's the one I really loved.

The wizard is just because my dad was a wizard and my mom was a wizard and my sister was a wizard. And when you have a bunch of old wizards in your family, they kind of have some expectations of what you're going to do. And, you know, so you learn a few spells and I kind of picked it up. And I've been growing that knowledge as we're off on the road. It's been quite a journey, yeah. I'm surprised that you didn't combine archaeology and wizardry into necromancy. Oh. Interesting.

No, there's some lines that are, as a follower of Lathander, there's certainly. You want to try and find the bright side of everything. And it's just not necromancy. Let's just take that one right off the table. He knocked on some teethlings in episode 11. You never lived it down because they followed Asmodia. And she just nods. That's, that's, I'm glad to hear.

Isn't your favorite cantrip necromancy, told the dead? Yeah, but that's different. Not when I do it. That's not, like there's, there's necromancy, the school of magic. And there's like, necromancy, the act of, raising the dead and stuff. There's lines. I don't know. We're standing by the door. Do you want to knock or should we just kick it down? We should knock first. I don't think we have to kick it down. You have some red tendencies already, eh, Mar? Kick it down. I had a taste and I just came. You've been

hanging with red too long. Or we could use our mind to open the door from out here. And Jack conjures a mage hand on the other side of the door and finds the doorknob and opens it. Beautiful. But you did knock or no no one neither of us knocked the door just opened you're like talking about knocking how to get the door open I really I wanted to get the door open before we kicked it and so knocking took second priority before it was like no no no it the door opens and Mari just looks over and goes

I wasn't actually going to kick it down oh thank goodness but still walks inside the door opens slowly to reveal a cold dark apartment hello This is a bar, both run and patronized by people who seem to be trying to forget. The most interesting thing about the place is an enchanted string instrument of some kind that's kept in an iron birdcage welded to the ceiling. It's playing a quiet tune which is being entirely ignored.

Behind the bar is a surly-looking half-elf with a hook for a hand. They don't acknowledge you as you walk in. Red says and waves loudly to the silent patrons of the bar. Yeah, everyone kind of looks up at you in a clear fuck off. Yeah. Say, has anyone seen the person who lives next door? His name is Remy. He's 60.

Red. And I think... Red. Let's not be so rude. And Doran approaches the bar. Can I have one pint of ale and a little glass of milk for my friend here? and he stretches say does anybody remember

seeing who lives next door I really thought it was going to place like don't be so rude let's buy a round for the bar and like ingratiate yourselves or something he's just like no yeah it just buys himself in a drink anyway have you

red says the bartender slides you over your order dorin and then in a low voice says used to be a rich man Maybe still is Strange you'd be slumming it around here

With us build scum Either way Not my personal business I don't stick my nose where it doesn't belong That's the way you keep it attached to your face Wow, that's a cool saying Isn't that a cool saying? I suppose, yes

Because like sticking your nose Where it doesn't belong is a saying And he says that's how you keep it attached to your face Yeah, that's pretty cool Can I roll insight on him? You absolutely can. Uh, 18. This person probably knows a little bit more than they're letting on,

but, uh, this is not the kind of place that you just trounce into and then announce your intentions loudly to everyone who might be listening. Clearly, they don't necessarily want to be seen giving you this information. Right, right. I picking up what you'll put down. And Red picks up the small cat by his feet and walks over to the bar. Meow! Look, between you and me,

And there's no reason you need to not tell us what's going on. Maybe we can persuade you in other ways. And Red pulls out a gold coin from his pocket and slides across the table. Wait, why did you pick up the cat? Because there's a cat in here with us because they sent it. Yeah. You just wanted to hold the cat? I don't know, why not?

They said it picked it up by its feet. I imagine you're like wrapping all four feet. Being like, I found a cat. Did everybody lose a cat? What the hell is this? I love that. you're like a cat person and you have a cat and you're like, this is weird. I don't know anything

about cats. He's a cat person. While Red is speaking in the ear of the bartender, Doran's trying to create a bit of a distracting scene by drinking his beer loudly and saying things like well, I suppose

another beer to drown out my troubles, right? And sort of looking around and trying to create like not a total distraction, but just like a little bit more. I just try to get a buzz about this new mysterious dwarf that's rolled into town. This sounds like a performance to me. More than what you're doing over at with the bartender?

Your strategy is just like slurping your drink really loudly and talking to yourself about how cool you are. Oh, another death of a friend. They keep on tying around me. It's as bad as when I was in the war. The sad part is it's all true. Does anybody want to hear about when I was in the war? No.

Everyone loves the old drunk that comes in and starts talking loudly about his sorrow. You look like you've lost friends and family. You must be really depressed with your life. Come on, friend. Tell me about this neighbor of yours. The bartender taps on the gold coin with their hook and says, a couple more of these. That hook is so cool.

I know. All right, all right, fine. And Red reaches in his pocket and slides five more gold says. And this is only because, I'm trying to kill less people. I met a new person named Mary and she doesn't believe as much in fighting in violence and killing

so I'm trying to make some changes in my life. Otherwise... Are you trying to intimidate this person? I would kill you. No. I'm just... All right, maybe I'm trying to intimidate. Do you want to roll an intimidation trick for me?

All right. Trying to do the old like real soft intimidate where it's like, if I could... If it just had you, for a moment, I'd rip it off. Sure. A little bit of honey and then the stick. comes in. That's a 19. Oof, ah. It's like you know these streets

and killed a lot of people on them. Yeah. Yeah. See, no one, and I mean no one, Red says as he like puts his hands around the hook and pulls it a little closer. No one expects the loud mouth, silly-looking fox to be able to fucking kill you. All right, all right. Just,

it don't mean any trouble, that's all. Then tell me what I need to know. Mari and Jack, you walk into this cold, dark apartment, and it's clear that no one's been here for days. I'm like, can I see in the dark? No.

Uh-oh. You don't have dark vision? I don't have dark vision. A dead friend has something for you. You know what we have is all of Kralov's gear. I think you'd look really good in the goggles of the night. It's so awesome.

They don't require attunement. In your room at the copper cup, there's just a big burlap sack full of stuff, and on the outside, red has scrawled, crain. And there's like a bunch, yeah, this F is backwards and there's like bones in there. Oh, no, like his literal actual skin. Yeah.

Oh, no. I thought he turned to dust. Krayloff's dust. He left his pelvis behind for some reason. Cromance is weird. Dust of Krayloff. Jack finds a couple of candles and snaps his finger and ignites them so that there's a little bit of light in this room for us to investigate by as we comb the place for clues.

What a cute trick. It actually is a cute trick. No, this one isn't me. It's from this Opal of the Ildroon that we found. It's a fire giant like artifact and it's been great for this winter. We've been marching around all over. I don't feel a cold at all because of this thing. It's so cool.

It's a really neat trick. I'm just letting that pause hang in the air. Let's take a look around here. We must be able to find something. I don't know. Can I investigate the scene? Yeah. You absolutely may.

Wonderful. 23. You find that this person's possessions are definitely at odds with the neighborhood where they are living. Jack, you can absolutely find some things on shelves and mounted to walls that you would have associated with someone of a higher social standing, let's say. See, now this piece would look good above the mantle in the copper cup. and it's an original you can you can just tell look at it it's she's very busty the silverware in the drawer i don't know how much you guys are digging into this person's life but i'm just i'm just written through papers now all the way in digging around through papers

but it's not to the point where like there's dust on things like they haven't been gone a season but is there any food that's like a few days out of like that might give us a timeline or something Mm-hmm. As you go into the small Eden kitchen, you see that there is a crust of bread on the table alongside a plate and some cheese that is molded. You see that there is also a rear exit to the apartment, and that door is standing a jar. Hmm. Is this like a studio apartment? Is there like the bed just in the same? Pretty much. Okay. There's no like extra bedroom or anything. All right. Obviously, no one's. here, and no one's been here for a bit.

Yeah. So maybe we should just keep heading on this path and see if there's anything out that door. Yeah. Do you want to put your head out first or me? I'm happy to go and Jack will open the door a little more than a crack and peek his head out. As you peek

your head out, you're startled by an explosion, a flurry of movement as a flock of birds takes flight off of a balcony. Whoa. My God. And you're looking down on a rear, exit, like a fire escape essentially. I guess we'll head down. Let's do it. So Mari just starts heading down the stairs. Jack might turn around and close the doors with his mind before we leave,

just so that we're not leaving this poor apartment open. I wonder if he fed the birds. I wonder whether there's a lot of them hanging out. Do you go to school to be a wizard or what? Like is that, what's the deal there? Because I think I'm, I think Marys just feel it a bit like there's an edge there and already feeling like this guy might already think higher himself. I guess you could call at school. taught me. She's, she's, she's a pretty good wizard. So it was, it was private tutor. I know how that sounds, uh, but, uh, she, she sort of got me through the apprentice bits and enough to satisfy dad that I was a real wizard and then I could sort of really explore the archaeology stuff. I mean, yeah. My dad's so old and it's like, the first archaeology was really just like exploring his

basement and finding seriously things that were forgotten down there from my grandfather's grandfather from way longer ago than should be in a wizard's tower basement. I mean, I know you probably come from a storied history and my magic is just, you know, silly and small. Oh, small. What are you talking about? You have the, you talked to a cat earlier and made it your friend. I can't do that.

That's so cool. I love, I've always been fascinated. I'm not sure exactly what part of the world you're from, but I spent a lot of my archaeological career, shall we say, looking at the, the, the, Uthgard Barbarians and their culture and I have tons of water ganassi friends I have so many like my best friends of water ganassi I swear I I like you people I know lots about savage cultures yeah yeah yeah she's got the the floral dagger out again picking at like the brick wall beside her Jack just puts his arm straight out he's like I'm sorry she's just she's just tapping into the brick wall

again and there's just little petals falling out look I know that whatever it is that I am is probably nowhere as strong as what you are or anything, but I just, I don't want this to be weird, okay? I'll just do my magic and you just do yours and we'll just be good. Jack kind of takes a step or two back and did I something wrong? You're not much of a fighter, are you? I mean, I'm an archaeologist, first and foremost. I think we've spoken earlier about my love for dirt.

Yes. And so maybe read describe me in a way, maybe separate from how I would describe myself. I don't know what he said exactly. I think there's a version of me that would spend the rest of my life writing lovely academic papers and living here with Torin. I think that would be really nice. But there's also a part of me that like sees all of these secrets out there, these things that nobody knows yet or maybe people know, but nobody's written down things that other people could know. know things that I could try and live that life and I'd be getting into more trouble than not. Mari just sort of gives him a long look that just, it just lasts again, like three seconds too long.

And then just takes a deep breath and goes, I haven't run into a lot of wizards. But the ones I have have not been very kind to the kind of magic that I do. and I don't appreciate you calling what I do a simple trick. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call it a trick. I don't think I said simple, but the things that you can do are incredible. They're so cool. I'm so curious how it feels and works for you and what you can do in that sphere.

It sounds like you have an understanding of the things that you can do, that red doesn't have internally and sometimes a little frustrating to try and pry out of him how he does the things that he does but maybe like I don't know I love talking about that kind of stuff I think the magic you

clearly even just have hinted that you can do is wonderful and fascinating and I can't wait to see it Rob I want to give you inspiration yeah great job the bartender casts a wary eye around this darkened taproon and then lowers their voice. The warehouse at the end of the alley isn't just used for shipping and receiving, if you know what I mean. I saw Rimi take a tour,

and he wasn't alone. Didn't look like he was too pleased to make that trip either. Maybe five days passed. Haven't seen him since. When in, never came out. The warehouse, you say. That's right. All right. All right. And I let go of his hook. Look, I appreciate you playing ball. Sorry, I had to get a little rough. I don't normally like to be that rough. I like to be like this. But I also recognize that you want to make sure you're not causing any stray eyes. So why don't my friend and I leave through the front door and head around back rather than walk through this building and let people know that we got the tip from you? Deal? Deal. And I take a coin back.

Good. And Doran, meanwhile, what story are you on? So then I thought we were free and clear, but then of course, the giant died. No, the idea that no one's taking the bait, that everyone's still sitting in their booth trying to ignore and he's just like facing the bar. Red, are you good to go? Let's get out of here. And I hope you all enjoy your afternoon. Not miserable people. And as we head outside, Red turns to Doran. Yeah, the bartender said there's a way I understand.

back and uh i told him we wouldn't go through and red heads down the alley as he's talking to doran i feel like we reached the end of the alley and look up the small flight of stairs to see marie and jack with a really awkward confrontation between the two of them uh-huh hi guys hello hey everything cool um we're good good yeah yeah well i'll tell you it's really nice to talk to a couple people again after being stuck in that place for 10 minutes nobody would listen to me Nobody would talk. Nobody cared about anything. Yeah, right there, buddy. Anyway, let's head to the warehouse.

At the end of the alley, hemmed in by the shadows of taller buildings on either side, a ramshackle two-story warehouse sits at the back of a shipyard, surrounded by a tall fence. Adorn Mari, why don't you go check the back? Jack and I will check the street down here. Sure. All right. You lead the way. Okay. I'll keep an eye out behind us here.

Nerves starting to drop a little, because now we're really out of her element. Warehouses, huh? Yeah. You're not a warehouse Janassi? No. You got warehouse Janassi. You got Highway Janassi. You got Amazon delivery van Janassi.

Oh, no. It's the suburban hell Janassi. There we go. That's awesome. I want those. Yeah, what's around us as we're heading in that way? Yeah. So this warehouse is like straight up fenced in by like a fantasy chain link fence.

Ye old chain link. It's wrought iron chain link. It's not like chain mail. It's dwarven made. You can tell. That's right. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. Red turns to Jack as Maori and Doran head down to the warehouse. Hey, is everything okay? It seemed like you and Mari were having a great time. Uh, yeah. No, it just, um, I don't know. I think I might have said something wrong to start off. I'm not...

What did you say? Did you comment on her hair? Never, what? It's always wet, but I think that's normal. Really? I didn't ask any of those questions because it seemed rude. I did accidentally call a lovely spell. Her mom taught her a trick,

and I think that pressed a nerve that I didn't expect. Did you accidentally called a trick, or did you purposely subconsciously called a trick? How would you define the difference? Jack, you and I have known each other for a long time, and you and I have rubbed butts together many, many times. Only because Doran keeps setting the bed up like that. Isn't that when you don't get along, what do you call it?

Rubbed heads. Butted heads? We've butted heads together many, many times, Jack. Look, you and I know we both have our faults. Tell me truthfully. It'll be fine. You and I have learned a lot from venturing together, and I want to make sure that you know that I have your back.

Of course. Mari and Doran, you guys are going around back. I kind of picture us skulking down the side of this warehouse building just outside of the fence. It's coming up on evening. So, Marilyn. I don't correct him. Tell me, have you ever done anything like this before? You know, a break and enter.

And you can sort of see that like the water is starting to build up more in Mari's hair as she's going because it's just getting nervous again. And she's trying to crouch because, like, Doran's so much shorter. She's trying to get kind of a little bit lower and trying to be like, because you can skulk so much better. And she's not a good sculptor. And I think as you're going lower, Doran's like going lower. He's like, oh. Or she's like a limbo.

She's saying we need to go lower. I'll go lower too. I've never broken into anything for a bad reason. I once had to try to get some stuff for my friend's place. and I tried to use some magic to do that. It didn't work. So I may have just thrown a rock through the window. Oh, yeah.

It reminds me of one time when my friend read, oh, you know him. I do. When my friend read, he threw me like a rock through a window. Say, how strong are you? She just sort of looks at her hands and goes, not that strong. How much can you lift? Strong enough to throw a dwarf?

Oh, all right, okay. I have to be honest, I don't think I could throw you if need be. Okay, well, then that, that, that, that, that, that takes care of that plan. How do you think we can get through this fence? I'd like to actually just take a look around, like, is there a door behind this fence? Yeah, dude, we can totally talk D&D stuff. Okay. So there's a tall, fantasy chain link fence, and then there's a gate on the,

this fence. Beyond the fence, you see a shipping yard, so there are some wagons and crates and whatnot, and you see that there are some points of entry beyond. A front door and a large warehouse loading door are both behind this fence as well as a window. Does it look like there are people about? You don't see any. Okay. How strong is the gate? Like, is it well fortified? or is it? I'm assuming it's locked. What do you do to ascertain these things? Squinting in the dark because I don't have dark vision. So you are in a dark alleyway looking at a dark building with no lights on.

Yes. Doran, can you see how tough that gate is? Hmm, let me take a look. And Doran puts his face up against the fence. And peering at the door, I guess with Doran's experience with blacksmithing and not so much woodwork. But is there like steel bars on this door or is it a fairly plain wooden door?

It is a wooden door that's reinforced with iron. Yeah, that's a bit of a reinforced iron door there. I have to say, Marina. I still don't correct him. Can I climb it? Hey. You can totally freaking climb it. How good at climbing are you?

Roll in athletics check for me. Oh, no. All right. That's a strength stat. Oh, I rolled 18. Nice. Which is shocking. You are live as a squirrel, and in a moment, you're on top of this chain fence, looking down at your small companion.

And Doran looking still through the fronts of the door, he says, okay, so what do you think? And looking around now, he doesn't see you. What? Hey. Mariana. Did you go? I'm up here. Oh, hey, you're pretty good at climbing.

Ah, maybe this time. Do you think I could get up over that? Could you get over that? I'll try. I can try a terrible strength rate. Roll in athletics check. That's going to be a 12. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Doran, you start to scrabble up with a loud clatter. You fall back to the ground. No, I can't climb over. What the hell was that? Why are they trying to climb over the fence, Red says, and heads over as he sees Dorn falling on his butt. Yeah.

Where's Mary? She's up there, look. Hi. Oh, hi. Brilliant. All right, here, Dorn. And I push him over. And I scramble up and over.

Yeah, perfect. All right, here I come. And Red pushes himself up and he's halfway over. Come on, Jack. Grab my hand. I'll pull you over. On the way down to where they're all climbing over the end of the fence, Jack passes the gate in and just tries it to see if it opens.

Yeah, it's not. Jack swings the gate open and steps into the courtyard. Well, if you want to do it, that easy way. Red falls off to the inward side. I mean, that's one way to do it, but, you know. I just shows a diversity of tactics. Well, this way was stealthier, Red says loudly. Quiet your voice down, Red.

Mari just climbs down and goes, I think this is contagious. Stupidity? Yeah, yeah. I don't know anymore. You've got to learn to pace yourself is the problem. What? I've had to learn to pace yourself. myself spending time with them I guess is what I'm saying at one or two yeah what do you mean

them as Jack is like explaining this to Mari Doren approaches the door and holds up a finger like a knowing finger and tries the door of the warehouse expecting it to be unlocked it's locked oh well at least I tried this time Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters Alexander Ruku, Lost with Two Faces, Matilda Rushing, Lida, Chelsea Chong, K.R. Sky. Creature. Regan, Michelle Con, Heather Nichols, Alexander Reed, Melanie Schien, Artistic Witch, Brian Blas, Lars, Gray,

Bryn, Daniel, Tara, Doug, Marie Kaniwski, Merlin, Christopher Ryan Evans, Mitchell Cadwell, Colin Burkart, and Michael and Brianna Weber. Thank you so much. Jack turns to Rob, sorry. Red turns to Rob. Yeah, I know. Red turns to Rob as Marry and Doran. What will I say?

Red turns to Rob. You just did it again. Red turns to Jack as Marian Doran head down to the warehouse. Hey, is everything okay? It seemed like you and Maori were having a great time.