Dice Shame - 2-24 | 'Off The Beaten Path'

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

https://soundbooththeater.com/series/seance/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.Part of the Rusty Quill Network Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

They live in the forest. I'm definitely hearing this is a scenic route. I'm trying to make its friend. Yeah, what the hell did you do to bring them here? Were you making some sort of commotion? Usually, if you peek at the peaks, you'll know right where you're going. Doren as surprised as anyone else. Hi, is your owner evil?

Oh, there's your song. All 15 verses. It's exactly like that. I want to see both passes. What kind of animals are prey? I'm a dexterous little tabxy. Oh, are you kidding me? I'll explain that to you later because I don't know how to do it fast. Shit.

There's an old movie. It's called The Sound. Sound of lutes. Hold on. What's your whole thing with movies? The movies don't exist. An old play. You came up a D&D name for the sound of music,

but not bothered to change movies. It just slipped. Sorry, film. Welcome back to Dice, shame. episode 24 off the beaten path. MVP this week is one armstone 18 from discord who just started season two and is sad that they'll be caught up soon. Worry not friend plenty more to come and also you get to hear this shout out real soon. High Falls New York 1845 famous spirit medium Lena Fox uses her powers to profit off the rich and powerful but rival medium hypnotist

and level 20 mage Oliver Hollow swoops into town with a bag of tricks like she's never seen In their battle for control of High Falls, Hollow and Fox unleash mystical forces, unearth long-buried sins, and reveal an ancient prophecy that will change High Falls forever. All eight episodes of Seance High Falls, a new audio drama, are available now on Sambooth Theater, written by Mark Harris and directed by our very own Harlan Guthrie. Check it out. It's a lot of fun. All right.

Should we play some D&D? Let's do it. Ow! So you guys have been playing D&D for quite some time. I mean, some of you, much longer than others of you, depending on your background. I want to know if there is a specific battle, a specific monster, some circumstance that stands out in your mind that is the best encounter you've ever played. Oh, can I do one that I've run, not that I've played?

No. Sure. Yeah, because I don't, I can't think of one that I've played. No, you can't. Fuck, okay. I've got to go play. Well, if you go back a couple episodes now. I was running a game, and there is this one character.

I never know whether it's pronounced Nothic or Nothic. Oh. Yeah, those things are freaking. I go Nothic. Yeah, Nothic. I even know what that is. Yeah. Oh yeah, those no-thakes

And that one I think was the most It was like the most fun Encounter to run because it was like The most fun voice I got to use Which is sort of like this weird kind of like Inhaled whisper Like mistimed kind of thing I was going to say can you break us off a piece?

Just by that description It should sound like something like this Why Alex? Well, it's like, it's hard to do, but it was like, well, you have to breathe in and out. Each, like, sort of on each word. Very cool. I don't want to talk to that person for longer than you have to at all. It was like, it was a lot of fun to run that thing, though, because it was just very, very creepy and low-key.

Aside from that, my favorite encounter was I ran in, I was running the same, same game, and they ran into like a warlock and he was just filling in for someone else. and the party decided to kill him and I made sure that he did not fight back he was just super annoyed the whole time he's like, I wasn't even supposed to be here today basically and then they're just like he just shoot him with more arrows and then afterwards the whole party's like

are we the bad guys? I'm like yeah I think you are now I mean mine was in dice shame at least it comes to mind it's probably the Bodak which was a creature that you ran for us darling and it was during jack's time in the stone giant uh and uh it was the creature that was like really dark and stealthy and it just had to look at you and it did like 3d10 psychic damage it was a very brutal creature that was undead and that we hadn't really experienced before

um and it like just i remember it like slinking to the shadows and like kind of oozed its way out And it was just a very creepy depiction overall. Yeah, I loved that. Very scary to think about a creature sneaking up on you to make you look at it. Yeah, it had like a death gaze. Yeah, death gaze. Kind of like a Medusa, but way, way more evil. Yeah, and it doesn't like flee or anything like that.

There's some like cool, cool freaky shit with that one. Yeah, that was awesome. Yeah, definitely that one. Cool. A couple of years ago I ran a game where the adventure was building up to this cult summoning the thunderbore, which was this like kaiju boar thing. And that battle quickly turned into like a Paul Bunyan-esque tale of like the adventurers riding around this bore for three weeks as they tried to tackle it down or something. Like it just became, it spiraled out into this like tall tale kind of thing that people would tell stories about. Cool.

Where we just sort of were like, I don't know how this is actually going to end. but let's just talk about the stories people tell about this weird thing that happened. That's fun. That is kind of neat. What was a blue ox? Yeah. Maybe not in this circumstance, but. Who knows?

It was like a boar, like a giant boar. This was a thunder bore, but yeah, it's kind of like the big blue ox. 30 to 50 boars. I can't, honestly, my memory sucks, as you know. But I think in this, in the Storm King's Thunder, I've really enjoyed battling. If you say giants. the wolves from last session no no no no is it

Nergeral Chaos Hammer Chaos Hammer? Yeah. Did I fight him or who was the other guy? The flame tongue. More gear, flame tender. Oh gear, yes. Sort of the grandiose

you know the gladiator ring. That was kind of exciting for me I guess you could say. Yeah, a one-on-one battle is obviously going to stick out in your head for sure. I think my favorite dice shame battle was the sort of one-two punch of the first time we approached

Gridehog and like fucking loss and then having to come back and like be successful after a session or two of like regrouping that had a really good like you know what to it it felt very satisfying you kind of took the words out on my mouth in one sense because I was going to suggest no no I was going to suggest that Rob I can't shadowy creature that actually ended up killing Krayloff I think there's something but there's something well if you're at this point we're a little bit late for the game. Wait, what?

What happened? But if you're, you know, like, if you consider the ones that we didn't win? Yeah, I mean, I don't think it has to be a winning. That to me is kind of a little bit, a little bit intriguing, you know, the creatures. I mean, I, just, if we're just sticking with dice shame, I also loved Frog Hemeth. And I loved the tomb tapper. Because that fucking thing came in like the Kool-Aid man, which was like. That was awesome.

It was like a hammer-headed or something. No, it did have a head. It had a giant mouth on its torso, and it carried this huge stone hammer, and it only wanted to kill the magic user. He had, like, burst in the wall and just, hey, what does the Kool-Aid man say? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a good. Hi, there.

Hey, it's me. Hi, it's me. You're, pirate Kool-Aid. Bonjour, it's me, the Kool-Aid. Allo. Salus. I'm cool-aid. there was another one I remember texting Joe afterwards where it was like the first time

I'd ever played a character who got to like go Nova and use every single spell I had in one fight or something I don't remember what fight it was but it was like it was a really cool feeling for me I think it was probably the frog he myth because I remember swallowing Doran and feeling so accomplished it felt like the perfect CR for the party where you guys were really up against the rails and you had to be really strategic but in the end, you killed the creature. But guess what? Lots of good fights are yet to come.

I can only promise you that I will try to make every future battle as memorable as one of these. It's hard to constantly try to one-up yourself, especially when you're like, well, here's a bunch of wolves, but anyway. Yeah, wolves. Anyway, here's wolves. Here's some wolves for you. On that note, let's play some D&D. Yeah. Let's do it.

You're welcome. Red says as he starts jogging up towards the party where they all stand around the dead wolves. You have vanquished to the wolf threat. Congratulations. You saw that arrow coming out of nowhere? Just bazoon right through that thing's throat. Incredible.

Yeah, well, it's what I do. As the only otter in this place, and Red, like, kind of gives an eye to Mari. She stays kind of blank, but sort of like raises one eye. eyebrow, just like, one of those looks where you're like, shut up. Anyway, Veranda and I found some rabbits, I think. I did. I found these rabbits. So Red, you owe me a song. And Veranda sort of starts trying to roll a dead wolf off of her bed roll. Maybe that song on the road a little ways, just away from

the corpses of these weird magical wolves. Yeah, what the hell did you do to bring them here? Were you're making some sort of commotion? Well, I mean, I mean, Doran was trying to teach us how to fight. Yeah. And it was going, it was going okay. And Mari sort of like tucks her bruised hand into her pocket, trying to hide the fact that, like, one of her knuckles is, like, clearly scraped. Jack's also rubbing his knuckle where he, like, accidentally clocked Doran in the neck.

You two don't know how to fight? Well, whoa. Way too late in the game. It's episode 170 I mean, okay I understand the fact that maybe I don't know how to fight It's not really a thing that's come up

But I mean, if you want to point any fingers You could point them at Jack He's been here the whole time Jack That's fine All right, let's move There's too much blood over here You know, I think they just came out of nowhere

Like, you know I think wolves, if I'm not mistaken They live in the forest Oh yeah, there's tons of them around here Technically we're in their house and I guess we're visitors and kind of made a mess of things. Usually I'm able to kind of stay out of their way and just not be noticed, but you guys have a way of announcing your presence.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. We are kind of loud, but I mean, it's not just, well, I guess it is just me. Let's pack up and get on the road, and Red walks over to his bed roll and begins rolling it up, pushing the dead wolf off of his. You might want to ring it out first. Oh, it's blood. No, that's definitely blood.

I thought it was water. What water are you drinking? All right, let's go. Red starts walking down the road. Smash cut, too. Here we are on the road. Ah, it's beautiful out here. Yeah, so I think if your intent is to get up to Scarborough

and correct me if I'm wrong, Doran, I'm sure there might be a better route that I'm not familiar with, but we can kind of start heading up into these foothills just in the next couple of hours. Jack and Doran and Veranda are up at the front, and Veranda's kind of talking to Doran about how to get to his homeland. And Jack is like really got a big boner about geography and stuff. He's got a map up. He's got a scrap of a treasure map in one hand, and he's going through everything he can to try and fit one to the other

and figure out where this map fits. You know. Well, I'll know it when I see it. I mean, I can't really point. it out on a map. It's just sort of one of those things. I'll know this peak and that peak and usually if you peak at the peaks, you'll know right where you're going. Does he also say this kid's peak of the peaks? Is that a dwarven saying? Yeah. Well, I wouldn't say dwarven. How long has it been since you've been back, Doran? It's been at least a year, I think, a year or two.

Maybe longer. I don't really know. 17 years actually now that I think of it. No, it's been a few years, at least. You know, I can't really remember. I've been on the road with these people. Friends. Friends. Yeah. Hey.

Red is uncharacteristically at the back of the party. Kind of with his bow still lightly held in his hand and an arrow even sort of drawn. And he's hanging back with Mari as the other three are kind of up front. Fly catcher sort of dipping around between us and Red catching him with his eye. And he turns to Mari and a hushy. voice and says, I had a little bet there with Veranda in the woods to

hunt a rabbit. Yeah, she mentioned something about you singing a song. I didn't know you were... I'll sing my song when I'm ready. All right, all right. I'm not, I just didn't know you were a music guy. I sing like a beautiful bird, but that's not the point. I threw the bed. I wanted to watch Veranda. Something about is sitting a little uneasy with me.

What's tipping you off? She seems fine for a lady we found who was a statue. Yeah, but I don't know. I mean, she hardly reacted to that weird bag we found under the tree. We all were a bit awestruck and she sort of just shrugged it off. Beyond that, she seems to be

awfully okay with everything we've been up to, including our general purpose, just tagging along for the ride. Everyone else we've come across in this way is a little bit more inquisitive, a little bit more standoutish. I don't know, something about it just sits off with me. Huh. Yeah,

I don't know. She seems fine, but you're right about the fact that She doesn't really seem to react to anything. She just kind of just goes with it. And that, I mean, even I wasn't feeling super confident when I joined. And Mari's watching Flycatcher as it sort of flits around. And she casts very quietly speak with animals. Ooh.

Interesting. What are you casting? I saw you move your hand. Shh. I want to chat with the tressum. flycatcher immediately turns to look at you as the effects of this spell come into play and he flits around your head inquisitively.

What do you want me to do, Marry? You're doing something. Flycatcher's looking at you. You want me to cause a distraction? You know, keep an eye on them. And if they, especially Vranda, she turns around. I got you. And Red runs up.

I owe you a song. I'll sing a loud song. He like turns over and winks at Mari. Oh, boy. So she turns back to the tressum, and she goes, hello, flycatcher. Yeah. Hi. Hi. I hope you're feeling better after your little experience being turned into stone. It's just been a really neurotic conversation. I'm trying to make its friend. I'm trying to just be nice to it.

What I'm supposed to do? Just go up to it and be like, hi, is your owner evil? And what's your deal? What are you into? No, I love it. It's great. You like sports? The Tresum lands beside you and begins patting alongside as you walk, looking up at you occasionally and then also kind of distractedly looking into the woods and then down at the gravel as if expecting a mouse to pounce out at it and then looks up at you again.

I pull a little piece of jerky out of my pocket and give it it, you know, sort of hand it to it, like a little treat. You know the way that cats will like grab your hand with their claws to take. the thing out of your hand. Yes. Does that. All right. And then, um,

no. Thank you. So yeah, so it's, uh, yeah, we're just traveling along with your owner. What's, what's she like? Where did she find you? Um, she calls the city Everland. That's a shithole. I was going to say.

Loudly rolls his eyes. I found her there. And we, um, made friends. Do you've been traveling together for a while? Is it a yes? It was a cat's affirmative. I don't know time. So what does she do?

What does she do when you're out on the road? We travel, hunt. Hunt for what, though? We hunt prey. What kind of animals are prey? Small things I catch. And the flag catcher starts leaping and pouncing on like imaginary bugs in the dirt. Have any other people joined you? No, we travel alone. Sometimes we stay in a big

place or a small place and my mistress works. What does she do? Ugh, boring, so boring. Have you ever come along with the group like us before? Sometimes, yes, for a short time. And do you just leave them or does anything happened to them? We just leave when our ways go. When I follow another path. Meow. Has your mistress ever been in danger? Sometimes there is danger.

Yes. Like with the giant folk. She just hands the tressum another little piece of the jerky. And just says, is there anything you'd like me to tell her? Stop murdering people. Tell her, I don't mind the dreams. Your dreams or her dreams? She tells me sometimes about her dreams and how they trouble her.

Do you remember what they're about? Silly things. I don't mind them. She worries about it, but I don't mind. Do they scare her? I can't tell. And then the cat goes after a piece. of fallen jerky and it seems like you've lost its attention.

To end. Huh. Well, there's your song. All 15 verses of it. I don't think I can hear out of this ear anymore. Yeah, I'm pretty loud when I want to be. Right beside my face, Red?

Yeah, you're welcome. Anyway, enjoy. And Red slinks back to the back. That was the loudest song I think I've ever heard in my entire life. Yeah, it's no wonder those wolves found us in the forest I wasn't with you

oh right so this is I think where we're going to take a detour up into the mountains at least you know a couple of hours down the road as far as I know if we want to get to what was it

Scarborough Scarborough that's probably the direction we want to head up in unless you have some other I don't know, is anything looking familiar around here? Yeah, it's all looking familiar now. Yeah, actually, you know what?

Thanks to Red's song, you know, it was an opportunity, it gave me an opportunity to really look around and recognize the peaks because that's what, you know, as kids, we would go, you know, peaking. We'd peek at the peaks. How can I explain this? I think that's pretty self-explanatory. So as kids, our parents taught us, you know, if you don't get lost, inside the caves and there was cave markers and runes and this and that but when you're out

in the wilderness and you're trying to find your way around the mountains you have to recognize peaks so you got to look at that one over there uh-huh and then that one over there and then it tells you we go this way there and then now you could have gone up that way like you're pointing but this path i actually know by at least from when i was young it's nice it's calm there's a brook and a waterfall Doran make a survival check for me is there actually a path there oh one second we don't know we're gonna find out

oh he doesn't have dice it's good great great start yeah for real though just yell out a number that's how we used to play d and d with henry just say a number and then we'll adjudicate from there um survival check yes please that is going to be a 17 plus

whatever am I survived. Hey. Peaking. No joke. Doran knows these hills. Yeah, isn't that right, eh? Dorn is surprised as anyone else. Well, if you're sure, I mean, I thought that this would be a better path this way, but you know what?

Have you been up there? I have, actually. I haven't been to Scarborough in about, I think, four years. Now, you've been up that path, though, is always. what I'm saying, right? And it's rocky and it gets a little slippery. Oh, easily traversable, yes, of course.

But this way is like, there's an old movie. It's called The Sound of Lutes. Hold on, what's your whole thing with movies? The movies don't exist. An old play. I like that you came up with a D&D name for a... Yeah, you came up a D&D name for the sound of music, but not bothered to change movies to something appropriate.

I just, it just slipped. Sorry, film. I was going to make a half joke. No, you're committed, commit to the bit now. I think you made a full joke. Have you ever seen the play, the sound of lutes? The mountains are alive with the sound of lutes. Never seen that one?

No. It's amazing. And this path, I swear, you know, there's a scene that they do in that play and the woman she comes running down this really big. beautiful, grassy hill. It's exactly like that. I'm definitely hearing this is a scenic roof.

Yes, that's the word I'm looking for. I'm concerned because you said that one's definitely easily traversable and then this one is the scene. Well, this one's even easier. That was the key point. I was just because you said it was scenic. Doran during his mother's death.

The lutes are alive. Dwarves grieve in mysterious ways. He's just taking in the fresh air and really feeling it. Bland stew for celebratory. So when someone dies, it's singing. I think Doran is more excited that he's in a territory

that he recognizes. He recognizes some surroundings. And for the moment, you know, he's forgotten that his mother is sick. I'm just teasing. No, I know. But you make a good point.

It sounds like peaking is a lovely nostalgic memory. This is just reminding Mari the fact that she's never seen the sound of lutes, but she has seen the musical Tabaxi, which is by Andreweth Lothweber.

And it just drives you crazy. It's a garbage musical for garbage people. I mean, the hard part is that it's like none of the actual actors are tabaxi. They just have people in like costumes. It's so offensive. And there's a cut of it where you can see everyone's buttholes. The butthole play. I was trying to get there.

And she's seen it five times. She just keeps getting dragged to it. Maria, you've got to look away. You've got to look away. I know. I got to move on. Listen, if you think this is the way, that you want to go, far be it from me to try to divert you.

This isn't my mission, you know? Is it worth doing an insight check? Just to see, like, I'm getting the vibe that she maybe has another stake in the route. She's suggesting that we maybe aren't aware of. Yeah, totally rule. In fact, you know what? Maybe I head over to Jack because I see his eyes kind of perk up. And so with Jack's insight and my insight thinking about what actually lies about,

on that other path. The most insightful members of the team, the people who are best known for reading people. But I can help him. No, you can't help each other think about stuff. But roll your dice and let's see how we get to. What did you get, Rob? Oh, seven. I mean, you can draw whatever conclusions you think Jack would draw from them.

Exactly. Uh, Doran. Oh, actually, it's better than I thought. Twelve. Hey. Okay. You think that Veranda probably isn't very familiar with these. mountains, and that she's probably full of shit.

Hmm. Hmm. Red walks back to Mari. Did I give you a little bit of a moment with the cat thing? Yeah, yeah. I mean, that was the longest version of that song I've ever heard. I didn't even know that they had a whole section about what happened with that maiden, but that's... Oh, I made up 90% of it.

It's very graphic. Well, sorry. Lusty. I know. It got me offensive in the middle there, I apologize. Yeah, there was, that was... Body tail. She killed a lot of people. Anyway, what did you learn?

The main thing that I found out was that she's been having these dreams that worry her, and she tells them to fly catch her. And I don't know what they're about, but they worry her and they trouble her. And that makes me uneasy, because in the back of her head, she's still remembering all the stuff that went down in the sewers and that thing that was like in her speaking in her mind. Dreams? Hey, I have a bunch of dreams that are weird, too. I mean, the odds.

that she would have similar ones would be really slim, right? The Tressum is looking up at both of you with a kind of head tilt. Hi, kitty! And I hold my little hand out. Come on. He's safe. He's very friendly, and not normally this loud. I have great rabbit jerky.

Did Murray give you some? I did give it some jerky, so, but you can try. She definitely likes it. That's my brand. I made that. Yes, I did. flycatcher winds his way between your feet and then takes to the sky

and just kind of circles you at kind of like a 10 foot height Maybe we should talk quietly Yeah, I'm going to dismiss the talk to animals spell I'm a little bit nervous with the fact that she's having these dreams And the fact that she just doesn't react to anything And is she trying to lead us down like a different path Because watching up ahead and everyone's kind of kind of gesturing and pointing and Doran's got his arms out and it's taking big deep breaths

of the air or whatever and uh I don't know but why don't we catch up and see flutes are alive did you did you see anything where are we heading well we're not quite sure yet we're just looking at the best path up there um veranda was suggesting there's a trail that leads this way that Doran knows about it says it yeah pretty pretty easy all I'm saying is I think and I'm I'm pretty well-traveled overall. I think this is the most direct route. And from what I understand, we're in a little bit of a bind for time. And then she looks at Doren and kind of to assess whether you actually care.

Well, look, I've been gone for a few years. What's another day or two? I mean, but Doreen, your mother's sick, isn't she? Who knows how long she's been sick? Who knows how long she has? Anyway, Doren knows of like a pastoral route with a... Which sounds nice, let's be honest. A little pretty, yeah.

But hey, look, why don't we go your way? No, Doren, it's fine. You seem really set on this musical idea, and I think that's cute. Oh, musical, did you want me to sing again? Yeah. No, no, no, no. Mari clamps a hand over the red snout. I don't have a snout

I'm a cat I'm a fox I guess I do have a snout I'm a snoutish Red sort of looks at Doran If you want to go this way Doran I don't mind supporting your Oh I'm easy

I know both ways I want to see both paths I really I'm If I had to pick I think we We trump the fast path That is safe Or easy to travel

Is probably the better one to get to a sick person, then the scenic route that we could maybe take on the way back. Now, there's an idea. Doran, is that acceptable? Oh, absolutely. Let's go. Let's go! And Red follows veranda down the fast path. Excellent. You head up into the foothills of the Grey Peak Mountains for the first time for many of you, and for the first time in a while for you, Doran. As the landscape becomes strange, craggy rocks stick up here and to the

out of the terrain, and veranda picks a fairly reliable path. It begins to get dark. Your minds turn to the thoughts of setting camp. Are there other, like, people footprints in the snow on this path, or is it more like animal trail kind of path? Definitely more like an animal trail. This definitely seems like a trap, Doran. I think Red will be up front alongside veranda.

And you know what? As we're walking, he might even just be like, So, you, uh, caught that rabbit pretty quickly. Well, uh, beginner's luck, I guess. Yeah. I noticed you, uh, you got it with a dagger. Yeah. The one I lent you.

Oh, here. Um, you got it in, in its brain, the back of the head. I surprised it. I, I came around the side of a tree, and there it was, and I, I guess I can be pretty stealthy when I want to be. I suppose so. I suppose so. roll in sight just to see how she reacted. That's what we're all doing. 17.

Yeah, she's lying to you. Sorry about this morning, Doran. I didn't mean to punch you in the throat like that. Could certainly work on a few skills there. Oh, are you kidding me? There's no problem. I think I've coughed harder,

but that's okay. I dug this knife out of my bag. I've had it like for bushcraft stuff ever since I've been an archaeologist and I, you know, I've always thought, I could probably do okay in a fight with it, but never really had to test it. I'm wondering when we make camp if you can give me a couple of pointers. Hey, that's a pretty nice knife. And Dorn, like, takes it at your hand and does, like, a cool, like, spinny, flippy thing with a knife

and, like, a couple air jabs, a couple of air swipes. Jack's eyes go wide. It's just like, oh, never mind. No, this will do pretty good. We'll give it a good sharpen. I'll show you how to use it. It's fantastic, and Dorn, like, flips around, holds the blade and hands it back to you. As you hand the knife back to Jack,

Veranda and Red, Doran, Jack, and Kieran, all have to make a dexterity saving throw. Fucking new. Why'd you go this way? Do I, you know, I'm not even going to get into it. Just continue. Mari, as you are standing in the back of the party, you are exempt. Yay.

Red and veranda, as you are in the very front of the party, we are making our dexterity saving throws with D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-W-W-W-W- Oh. Oh, that's not bad. Oh, my God. I rolled a 20 and a 1. Huh. Rough.

Bab-Bam. Wow. One of the odds. Red, what did you get? On disadvantaged dexterity roll? That's right. 24. Are you kidding me?

Yeah, I rolled a 16 and an 18, and I have a plus 8. It's pretty good. Okay. Damn. Okay. I'm a dexterous little tabaxi. Jack. And Doran, what did you roll on your deck saving?

So Jack had been, like, psyching himself up to try and grab this dagger back from Doran and nailed it. Just grab the dagger, stays on his speed. You got a 17 on the deck save. Like, he's, he's ready. He's activated. Doran? Doran is too fiddly with this knife and wasn't paying attention as he was passing it back to Jack. And he got an eight.

Ooh. He slips. He slips on the path before whatever happened. I realize just a moment too late that the ground underfoot is suddenly not as stable as you would necessarily like. Oh shit, I knew there was a reason. Red, Jack, and Kieran, you are able to nimbly escape. But for Doran and veranda, the dirt underfoot shifts smoothly and begins to suck at your feet. You try to pick them up for a next step, vainly straining against the earth.

And you begin to sink into the very ground you stand on. What the hell? Whoa, whoa. Oh, shoot. Oh, bother. Oh, bother. Shit. Help!

Miranda. Red. Doran. Doran, what do you do? Quick, toss me a rope. I got it. And I go into the bag of holding and grab a rope. rope out. And veranda's reaching for your help. Red, grab my hand. Well, hold on, just chill. I

only one rope, but two people I need to save. Okay. Here's the dilemma. No, Red goes to throw it to Doran and then pauses, and he throws it to veranda. As soon as I see Red throwing the rope to veranda, I try to grab Doran with my mind and yank him out. A mind yank. A mind yank. Just to shove you up from beneath and get up here. similarly affected by magical force and by physics of rope and pulley, the pulley being red, the ground begins to suck at veranda and Doran's ankles, dragging them deeper into the quicksand. Weird. Let go of the rope.

Let go of the rope. You are knee deep now. Okay, hold on. Veranda, don't move for a second. Did you shimmy at all when I headed you the rope? I tried to pull. Don't pull anything. Just wait, after a minute or a few seconds of Vranda not moving.

Is she still sinking? Doran and Vranda continue to sink slowly into this quicksand. Okay. All right. Doran reaches into his own satchel and pulls out his own rope because he's got one of those on them as well. And he hands Jack an end of the rope. What? Ties the other end around his own waist.

Oh, you're going to pull the end. Run with this rope and tie it around that rock. and he points up to a big, like, sticking out of the side of the wall rock. Sure, come on. You can do it. Flycatcher is flying these desperate circles around veranda's head. Mari, what are you doing? I'm also going to just chuck a rope out there because that's what I've got on hand over to veranda.

Is the ground that they're sinking in wet? Red, roll an investigation check. Oh, fuck yeah. That's 14. When did you get so clever? A smirk boy. The ground doesn't look wet. You wouldn't expect quicksand to be here in the middle of a freezing mountainous climate.

Don't even tie it onto that rock. Just pass it over top and then pass me the other end back. Yeah, Jack passes it to Kieran, who's faster and stronger than him, to go run around the rock and run back to you, and then he can make sure you get the other end of the rope. And which I tie it onto the same spot. Yeah, Kieran is gleaning some of the panic from this situation, but he's having great time.

Yeah, good. It's a lot of outdoor time. I did it. So Doran's essentially, like, you know, attached. He's attached himself to a rock. Doran, you also find that as you pull on your own rope, any force that is exerted on you pulls you deeper into this quicksand. Red stands back and he casts detect magic.

We definitely have some magic going on here. It's magic. No, just don't move for a second. This isn't regular quicksand. I mean, as a ranger, too, I feel like I would probably know. kind of everything you find in most biomes or whatever, and this stuck out is weird. Jack, this is magic.

It's not natural. It's transmutation. What the hell does that mean? I'll explain that to you later because I don't know how to do it fast, but in the meantime, I am going to reach out with my hand holding the spell guard sphere. Not magic. We can't pull them out in normal means. Right.

Doran, with Jack's magical efforts, you are pulled into this quicksand entirely. I got one more trick. Stop casting magic, it's magical. They haven't helped before. Miranda's just fucking screaming in the background. It's okay. I'm not going to cast magic on you, and I'm not going to try to force. This is, we can...

As my eyes go beneath the surface of the quicksand, Doran realizes that all our efforts have just sped this up. I see veranda is still well above the quicksand. Yeah, she's like waist deep. Doran suddenly thinks to himself, I've got to do something here. And he's like, what if I want to sink further? And he starts to say, pull me down. Pull me down.

Everyone sees Doran disappear underneath the quicksand. Doran! Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters. Alexander, Artistic Witch, Brian Blass, Brianna Weber, Michael Weber, Breen Marie, Christopher, Colin Burkhart, creature, cytosine, Daniel, Elizabeth H, Glory, Doug, Kirsten Wolf, Haley, Heather Nichols, K.R. Lars, lasagna, Leader J, Lorelei Feldman, Last Ruth on the left, Lost with Two Faces, Marimo, Melissa, Moss, Matilda Rushing, Matt Wordberry, Merlin, Michelle Kahn, Tamar Konatsa, Reagan, Shadowhaven, Sky, Terra, Tony Pepperone, Trapper 9339, and Tyler Fowler. Thank you so much.

A mind yanked, just to shove you up from beneath and get up. Yank him off. Oh, no. Yeah, yank me up. Mage hands. This feels kind of, uh, whoa, very sexual. My toes. What's going on?

This crown's got a fetish.