Dice Shame - 2-41 | 'One Minute to Midnight'

Episode Date: June 8, 2023

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.

Maybe there could be some fun, some entertainment while we're stuck here. That does feel weird. Traveling merry-go-round. Roll a strength check. Yeah, I'm just not good with animals. He lost a fight with a cat, and he's running away. I'm unimpressed. Including Rob.

I can't hear her from over here. Is Flycatcher a bad guy? It's okay, it's okay. We'll just hang out over here. We might have an opportunity here. Excellent deduction. Hey, Mario, you want a wild shape into a mouse? Why is my nanny cam in a barrel right now?

It's all the fashion of Waterdeep. I got to tell you, you need to breathe. TNA, tits, and arcana. That's good, huh Welcome back to This is Season 2, Episode 41 One Minute to Midnight MVP this week is Merrimo

Who's on a serious binge listening streak And is live vlogging on our Discord Merrimo is right around episode 113 right now and asks, why are your characters so adorable? Why? I don't know, Marimo. Probably because their players are so adorable. I'm allowed to say that.

All right, shall we do it? Yeah, let's play some D&D. Woo! Ow! If you thought the citizens of Slate Fell noticed the presence of five new strangers in their midst, it was nothing compared to this. Rumor spreads faster than fire as the town begins to absolutely royle with curiosity, as its occupants hang out of windows streaming towards the town square to catch a glimpse

of the strangely painted wagons rolling to a stop. Captain Bebe is conversing with an extremely tall, slender woman, perhaps in her mid-50s with closely cropped silver hair. Her manner of dress marks her immediately as an out. outsider head to toe in form-fitting fabric, intensely dyed oranges and reds. The captain gestures towards his own home, then clasps her hand and gives it a warm shake before turning to address the wilding crowd of onlookers. Good people of Slate fell. For the second time in two days, we have strangers on our doorstep. And though it is not in our nature to open our doors to outsiders,

I have heard much about the stone giant's threat to the lives of peoples in this region. And it is my belief that we no longer have the ability to ignore the plight of a refugee at our gates. So it is that the midnight carnival has come to our fair town, set upon by giants on the road and forced into our valley to find refuge. And we are in luck, for I'm told that in exchange for safety, the sisters will provide us with such entertainment as we have never before seen. The crowd erupts into wild applause.

What exciting. Obviously, Doran and Red and Veranda, being that you are basically right there in the town square you see and hear all of this happening, Mari and Rob, I mean, Jack, Mari and Jack, you guys are, you know, one street over, so you see the commotion, you hear him address the crowd, but maybe you don't see the people immediately, or what do you do? Do you make your way over there? Yeah.

Yeah, Mari sort of, like, strains her neck over, over someone who's slightly taller than her, like over his shoulder, to see what's going on. And she's like, Jack, tell me if I'm seeing things, but does that look like a carnival wagon to you? I think it says midnight carnival right over there, yeah. You ever been to a carnival? not a traveling one no every once in a while they'd show up but we're in my hometown and I'd go to them and I remember the last time I went to one

it was okay I went on a ride that spun you around and then I threw up in a bush Wow and then someone stole A ride? Yeah like it's like just like a It's just like a Ferris wheel Oh not Ferris wheel sorry What's the thing you go on in like a playground? Mary go round

Mary go around it's not a good ride Spinny thing Traveling Mary go around Traveling Mary go around Give me just two days to set up And you are going to see some things The artifice behind it The horses are like so tired

Well yeah it was it was all It was a fair A little fair done by artificeers So they move fast But they're kind of spooky looking But yeah Someone someone stole my coin purse And then I never went to one again

But it feels weird That this place has gone from having no outsiders for ages and now has had two and maybe 24 hours. That does feel weird. I'm not going to lie. But, hey, I didn't see a show. A little culture. Yeah. At the very least, we should track down Red and Doran and Veranda. Oh, they're going to be a circus act by the time we get there. That's a good point. I think they'd be good, though.

Oh, yeah. 100%. Well, at least Red would be. I don't know about Doran. So you guys make your way to the square? Mm-hmm. Doren, Red, Veranda, what are you guys up to? Yeah, Red's got Veranda kind of now pinned against the wall a little bit. You know, he's really looming over her. And he sort of momentarily turns away towards the distraction in town as the carts move in,

and he turns back to her, a puzzled look on his face. What the hell is that? That's what I've been trying to say. And then in a flurry of wings, flycatcher lands on her shoulder. and she looks startled and then panicky towards you. Come here, cat. I'm sorry, Rhett. Did you guys see this caravan that just pulled in?

Hey, what do you think? Maybe there could be some fun, some entertainment while we're stuck here. Yeah, yeah, I suppose so. And Red kind of nervously looks between the cat and to veranda, and sort of turns, and he's like, yeah, let's check it out, I guess. And he's sort of, you know, just pause. his bow, just sort of, you know, uh, instinctually just worried about what might happen because now he and Veranda are aware of this being something more than what it seems at the very least.

I, I, I hate these things. I'm going to stay right here. Come on, Veranda. I, I think it's best if we stick together. And Red sort of like grabs her arm a little bit. Oh, all right. Come on, let's go. Yeah. And Red leads the way with Veranda in tow. And that's when you see, it's going to say Rob again. that's when you see Jack and Mari coming into the square from the other side street. Oh, there they are. I've started a Rob and Jack count. You have to add about 50 on top there right to start.

Are you counting all of us? Because I know we all done. Yes, I'm counting everyone. Everyone who does it, including Rob. At least it's the recorded ones and not the ones that get past the edit and make their way in, which is not zero. Or we greet you in life as Jack.

As you join the thronging crowd, you watch as three women disembark from their wagons and begin to smoothly set out a large blue tent open along the front side, and they're unrolling these carpets that make soft the ground underfoot. There is, of course, the first woman that I mentioned, the eldest, who appears to be perhaps in her 50s. The next youngest, the next youngest, woman is blonde and beautiful with an athletic body. She's wearing a shiny white tunic. She's broadly built. And the third woman, the youngest, maybe in her 30s, a tall woman with a heavily pregnant figure. She has curly brown hair and wearing a long blue dress. The three of them work together

quite well to set out these trappings for their performance. Red starts to sort of lead veranda into the crowd to a spot that he sort of surmises would kind of be you know like she can duck behind a stall a little bit maybe be out of eye line of the women you notice her hunching her shoulders forward and kind of ducking her head behind people as you move through the crowd yeah and red sort of like spins around to Mari and Jack and he's just like look we need to talk I need to talk to you what's up yeah what's going on and then she shoots you a look. I think it's at that moment that Doran kind of looks back

and with this look on his face that's excited about the carnival and then and then remembers his task to kind of keep the tressum away from veranda and he sees red kind of catch eyes with his other two companions and he sort of swoops through you in a bluster

and grabs the cat by the wings and disappears into the crowd behind you. What? What? Oh my God. Dorn, what are you doing? What is going on? Make an animal handling check for me there. Nice. Let's get your mitts on that animal.

You're going to get bitten so many times. This is just straight up for me. That's a seven. Yeah. Okay. Doran, you sustain some pretty intense scratches all along your forearms, and the cat nimbly wriggles from your arms,

taking to the air and keeping out of reach from you. Is it still with an ear shot, though? Yes. What the heck's going on? Oh, sorry. the cat took something of ours and just, you know, Dorn and wanted it back, a little trinket of ours.

I'm just not good with animals. Do you want me to chat with it again, or? Sure, if you want to, over there, maybe. That's a great idea, actually. Out of earshot. I kind of whispered to Mari. Okay, and she's clearly sort of a little confused and also feeling like, uh-oh, we've got a weird circus

and now I have to get this cat, the tressum. I'm not, don't say threesome. So, yeah, I'm going to cast, speak with animals again. Sure. And try to reach out mentally to the, to, what was it, flycatcher? And hold up one of the little pastries and be like, hey, do you want one of these? I'm not hungry. Keep him away from me.

Well, here, come over, and she walks further away and said, come over here. He's silly. If you get too close to him, he gets scared. So if you want to come over to me, we can just, uh, we can, we'll just hang out over here. And she sort of like pats her shoulder, but tries to sort of get as far as she can, sort of moving. I want to say almost more towards where those ladies are. And she, uh, gestures to the, um, to the tressum. She's got the, the pastry and has dug around in her bag and is found.

What she thinks is maybe a jerky that Red gave her, but she's not really entirely sure, but it's, it's dried up something. It smells like jerky. It's possible. It's possible. out of the bag of holding, so it really could be anything. Everything kind of vaguely smells of jerky when it's been in the bag of holding. Oh, that's a drago we fought. So I guess its finger fell off into the bag.

I think this once was a wallet. I don't know. Yeah, tries to lure the tressum over. Just trying to convince it that Doran, Doran, he's weird. He's weird, and he gets worked up sometimes, and if you get too close to him, he might swat you away. So just come over here with me and, you know, give him some space. He's a little worked up right now.

Roll a persuasion. I rolled a six That's not good Oh, us with our skills checks Yeah, cat's gonna claw my eyeballs out now too The Tressum ignores you And flies back over to sit with her mistress Doren, go for that cat again

Yeah, I feel like Doren has kind of decided to hide himself In the crowd like a cat Hut and a bird And he kind of He lost a fight with a cat and he's running away Creeps up, and I'm going to try and pounce and grab the tressum from the crowd. Yeah, this is, I mean...

This has truly taken a turn. Fascinating. Meanwhile, the three performers have finished setting up, the tent and the carpets, and they have brought out instruments. The performers begin with a song. It's strange music, the youngest playing a harp and singing in a clear, strange voice. voice, the blonde woman, playing the flute and the eldest, playing a strange drum. Their voices echo up over the crowd, and the crowd quiets to hear this beautiful song.

So, Doren, what you're saying is, you want to sneak up on this tressum and, what? Yeah. Put it in a bag? No, I think Red would see Dore and he'd be like, Dorn, Dorn, D'Ot, D'Ot, D'Ot, D'O. And he would just kind of. we were one over and he would be like veranda just give us a moment we'll be right back i'm i'll get us a corn dog okay i love those by the way yeah yeah well who doesn't it's an ear of corn wrapped in meat an actual dog dog meat yeah uh come over here everybody and red sort of walks out of

your shot of veranda and the tressum yeah and doran dorin sort of like stops his pouncing approach and yeah it sort of starts to look normal and stands up certain falls red and jacked at Marriott's sorry about that red I didn't really I didn't really good do a good job keeping that tressum off it's okay it's okay

what's up the veranda is extremely nervous about this I don't know she couldn't say more but that tressum is somehow I guess an influence or she can't speak openly around it nervous about what well I don't know

But we need to get that tressum away if I can find out Or we need to be prepared for whatever this carnival might be Yeah, what do you mean this car? Well, oh, you're saying she said something about this carnival She couldn't say as much. Look, we could only keep the tressum away for so long All I got out of her was that trouble was coming And then when the carnival arrived she said, it's here So why did she desperately want us to make flycatcher not stone if it was such an anchor around her neck?

Well, I don't know. Maybe it's maybe it's an anchor that needs to be awake. Maybe it's something that she's beholden to and that would hold it against me. Maybe she stole the tressum for now. I don't know, but we can find out if we get flag catcher away from veranda. Any ideas?

The youngest woman then begins to entertain the crowd with feats of prestidigitation and slights of hand. She juggles snowballs and disappears them one at a time only to vanish herself, reappearing atop the wagon in a shower of fresh

fresh green leaves and in a different dress. Then she lights the lanterns of her wagon and begins to invite townfolk inside to have their fortunes read, telling tales of wealth and devastation. I was waiting for you to give over descriptive imagery of like the woman, she gets on top of the cart and removes her top. That's right. Large breasts. It's a different kind of bubble.

It's very salacious. We're here to entertain. Da-da-da-da-da-d-don. It's like the tassels upon her nipples wag with the wind. Welcome to die shame after dark. Zoo-Zo-Zo! I do find it hilarious, though, that this is a world

where magic exists normally, but like poofing and appearing is like, but like, I like it and it makes sense, but it's also kind of funny to think about like this idea that it's marian jacker sitting there like amateurs well yeah but you guys are adventurers and i don't think magic is so deeply common in the world like there's probably no magic users in this town do you know what i mean no totally i think in a lot of smaller communities you might have like a healer or you know a low level sorcerer or something but you would need to go to a big city to find like a magic academy plus i mean the way i view it is like you can you could

have people in town that play instruments, but you could still have a band come in and be entertaining. Exactly. You know what I mean? Like just because you can do it, you know, you can still be better. But I totally hear what you're saying. Yeah, it's just funny to be like, yeah, okay. My read was very much, it's like, that's the sales pitch for the personal brush with magic. Come inside this tent, have your fortune red, you know, have a really personal touch of magic, which you may never have, even if there are, you know, you've seen a wizard before or something. And I was like, do all that, but topless, you know? They dance around to the tambourines.

I like the different ways everyone's mind. I'm like, I'm unimpressed. Rob's like, it makes sense to me. Alex is like, yeah, but naked. Make them booze hang out. Yeah, I'm sure you guys can do magic. Can you do with your tits out? Let's do this, come on.

So much hard. Sorry. this is this is why jack does all his magic wearing assless traps has to compete it influences the weave of the magic it's all the fashion of water deep i got to tell you you need to breathe it's a t-n-a tits and arcana that's good on so what are we going to do about veranda i mean she has been acting very strange you two have been thick as thieves going off and singing songs and doing all that but she doesn't really opened herself up to anybody else so you feel like they have a rapport

She has dreams, but we don't know what they are, and she can't, she didn't tell me, but I heard from Flycatcher that she has these dreams. I don't know if she said anything to you, Red. We can't trust anything that thing said. It seems far too intelligent. I think what you and I got from it, Marie, may be honest. It also may be a complete ruse. Look, you tried to lure that thing away. It had no intention of leaving her side. And when these carnival ladies came, it seemed very interested. I don't think that thing is trustworthy. I wonder if it's even a tressum now that I think about it. I mean, it's possible. I mean, what if it's been somebody that's been turned into? I mean, that just came to my mind,

but that's the reason why I tackled it in the first place. I tried to get it off of Veranda's shoulder, and that's when you kind of saw me. I mean, I'm not sure if you played it off, but I was trying to get it off, you know, away and sort of pull it to the ground and maybe just hold onto it for a few minutes.

Oh, that's what you were doing. When Veranda and I went on a little rabbit-hunting trip, she sprinkled some magic that I didn't see and she stabbed the rabbit right through the head. It was not odd in and of itself, but now, looking back, realizing that something is looking over her shoulder, I don't know exactly what to make of it.

All I know is this. I think Veranda is willing to talk, but we need to get that trussam away. Any ideas? I'll tackle it. Yeah. Well, no, stop tackling it. You're not doing anything.

Why don't we keep missing? Wait for an opportune moment. Like, understanding that, it doesn't have to happen immediately, does it? Do we think there's... Well, trouble is coming, and then, in Red Jester's the Carnival, it's here. I don't know. What if these things cast mass hypnosis of everyone in the crowd, and we don't know that, you know?

Well, we're not going to know it if we're standing over here talking and not seeing what they're doing. Okay, Jack, you go to the front road and let us know if you get hypnotized. We'll figure out a way to help veranda. Well, I mean, we can put the cat to sleep and separate it, put it in a cage. We can do anything. Perfect, let's do that. I can't, can you? Very possible.

Let's do that. Did you prepare sleep today, Jack? Genuinely what I'm asking. Is there a thing we can do to help them? Yeah, I have hypnotic patterned. Someone needs to tackle it first. Then put it to sleep, Jack. If you can put it to sleep, that's fine.

Any ideas otherwise? Yeah, I'm hearing veranda doesn't want to be here at this party. We don't need to subject to that. Let's all go somewhere else, somewhere without a ton of eyes, and then our options really open up. Hey, there's a dark alley over over there. There's a lot of dark alleys in this time. I can see it.

I can see it from here. Do you think the tressum would have any interest in another tressum? Hey. Like a sexy lady tressum? Like a spinning its... Yeah, you know what is attracted to, right? If I wild shaped into a tressum, that was also in a little slinky dress. Pepe le pew style?

A dress. Yeah. And it's dancing topless. Dora. I love you to do this, Dorn just like, daydreaming. He's just like, I'm picturing Doren's got that look on his face like Gimley does when they're, when they're paddling away. And Gimley's got that kind of like starry-eyed, like look, except it's like boobies. Super horned up.

This has been Alex the entire time. Look, look, if it makes more sense to walk to the alley and then think of a plan, sure. I prefer Jack to think of a plan and then bring her to the alley. But if you think we could deal with it, then let's do that. I'll have faith in you. I don't have the spells. Mari, if you think turning into a tressom would help, try it.

I don't know enough about it. You hear screaming erupt from the crowd all over. Oh, crap. Well, I think our decision's been made for us. We're too late. Dorn instinctively pulls his axe off his... We all run back to the crowd. Yeah.

You see the brawny, blonde woman, with a giant boa constrictor snake. that is curled around her body, and she's feeding live mice to it, and people are screaming. Hey, Mara, you want a wild shape into a mouse? Or a bigger snake? No, but I still have, speak with animals cast, so I can chat. Would you like me to speak to the snake or to the mice? Oh, no, neither.

No, God, no! Fine, let's just get her away. I'll get her, and we'll meet over there on that hour. Alley. Maybe if we need the act of surprise, Jack and Doran go hide in the dark corners and grab it or something. Whatever your plan is. Yeah. I've got way too much adrenaline right now. Veranda! And Red walks over to veranda. Yeah.

Hey, I found a really cool barrel I want you to look in. Where? Over there, on that dark alley that Jack and Dawn are running towards. We're not over here yet. I love you ever seen that video of like Batman running away. where, like, they, like, cut and you see Batman running away. It's like, but he can't get there fast enough. I imagine that.

You guys are just, like, running really fast. It's always those scenes where he's, like, magically gone. Why are we running? I got lost to the narrative, but we're half. I don't know. We're just like standing nearby. We're going. Let's do it.

We're hiding down the alleyway. Great. Yeah. No, down that alley there over there. Let's, let's, let's go. Mari, did you turn into a sexy tressum for some reason? I just need to know. part of me's like

do I waste a wild shape for a tressin with huge fuckers it's just it's it's shaped like a like when you when it turned like if she turns into that rather than the normal like sound effect

you hear like a like wolf whistles and then like just go like I'm gonna homo I just made a note for this episode keep boob stuff Because originally, when Alex first brought it up, I was like, well, that will be like blooper stuff. But now it's come up too much that it has to be in the episode.

No boy. You have no choice now. Come on, let's take a moment. Red sort of leads veranda towards an alley. Yeah, she follows you. Do you love the idea that we just cluster fuck this. Like, Mari's at Tressum, Jack's trying to cast sleep. Doran's trying to grab the thing.

I'm like ready to beat, you know, in the back of the head. We're just like doing separate plans at once. Doren's misunderstood somehow and he knocks Veranda out No, he gets the wrong tressum He's like, I got it He knocks out Mari Just a flying rat

I went for the sexiest one And this is what happened Oh gosh No no one of my head's out this morning Not the one covered in sequins Check it out Veranda This barrel's full of fish

And they're just sitting out here I'm sure they're easy to grab And Red sort of walks into the alley first Mm-hmm Veranda follows you, and flycatcher is padding along behind her, maybe four feet back. When flycatcher is comfortably within 60 feet of me, I pull out my wand real quick and point. From your wand sheath? My one sheath, my custom leather, Water Davian.

Spring-loaded. The pocket protector of Forgotten Rolls. It's cool. I promise. It's monogram. believe me please my mom says it's cool uh i pull up my wand pointed at him shout a couple of magic words and fill it with some of those you know secrets of spell secrets i know or that alchemical casting and uh he need to to make me a strength saving throw as the magic just forces

its way on and turning him into a big snail one of those like puppy dog size snails oh the average land snail you love turning things into snails and slags that's a three i mean i don't want them to get away and they don't seem particularly speedy. This one is. It's great. I get to take everything, but it's speed, I guess. Perfect. Yeah.

So you turn flycatcher into a snail. And then pick them up with my mind and bring them over to us. What's going on? Why did we, what's up with flycatcher? What's up with you? Why is everybody so activated here? What's going on, Miranda? Hold on.

And does the snail still understand? Like, isn't it just the exact same thing? Just a snail now? Dorn grabs Jack's arm, and he, like, guides him to the other end of the... Come on, Jack. Come on, old man. It's all right. I used to be a wizard.

Yeah, whatever, granola said to bed. I don't know. Maybe snails don't have ears. Is that, like, maybe it was really... Smells can hear. Well, I don't know the context of the spell. Maybe it's like you can only understand languages that the nests of the name. new species

you know like it's not clear well let's put the snail red takes the snail and puts it in one of the empty barrels and puts a lid on the barrel

and he makes Doran sit on the barrel perfect hopefully you're feeling real comfortable now the snail can't hurt you either you're going to yeat it into the crowd yeat

my snail escar go there you go there you go escar gone and yeah Stupid game. Tell them, Veranda.

Tell them what you told me. Look, it's too late now to be hiding anything. Too late for what? We've gotten to tress them off your tail for the time being. What are these dreams? What?

We're on that? Redd just except Mari. What? Do you want to hear about my dreams? Different priorities. I'm more concerned about the trouble, but if we want to talk about dreams, let's do that too.

What's the only information she has? Some of your dreams are connected to trouble, Red. What? I know, but it's shut up about dreams. Verando, you said trouble. is coming and the conval arrived. Look, you don't, tell us what you can. Yeah, I mean, I'm still concerned

about this snail situation. Doran, start humming, loudly. It's Marri-Cast druid craft, which allows like a sensory thing, and there's just in the bucket. There's just like a piercing, like, e-noisse of the snail now is tinnitus.

I'll take the snail for a walk. And Doran's like, I will take the snail for a walk. Oh, Doran, you need to hear all this stuff, though. You guys, I do need to hear it. Yeah, and also, we just put the snail in a bucket with the lid and drew you can take it out now just leave it the snail i do love the image of doran cradling with a giant snail like going no with a leash i'm picturing with a leash he's like gone to like a like a stand and he's bought

it like a little hat and he comes back to eyes or poking out through guys i'm a snail person now i've always been a snail person i just didn't know until today i just didn't know it snail is my friend more like hey where'd you go snally snailie snally It's a nice thing It looks like it works, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, now you just have like this high pitch noise, but in from inside of a bucket.

In the bucket, yeah. It sounds like the snail is just faintly screaming. It seems reasonable because we just did a thing to this snail on, I don't know, what is it, is, what's the name of this dumb cat? Flycats. Is Flycats are a bad guy? What's a bad guy? Oh, Jack, what's going on with you today?

Veranda. We're the bad guys. We've been asking you questions and cutting you off and not allowing you to speak. She keeps opening her mouth like she's about to start exposition and then closing it as you guys like talk on top of her, clipping wildly. We keep running back and forth to this snail to make sure that can't hear us. I can't hear her from over here. Talk quieter. Okay, shut up.

Go, Veranda. I don't know where to start. I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to be totally honest with you all. Listen, I haven't been able to speak freely around Flycatcher Because it's well, it's spying on me You might have been able to kind of guess that by now I knew it I knew that right now when you said it

I mean He had pieces of it He put it together Good job, Torren I knew it actually but Dorn can take credit. He had pieces of it. Well, I told you that I was a traveler, right?

That I have been all around this countryside, and that is absolutely true. But, well, the reason that I travel, God, this is hard to talk about it. I've never told anyone before. That's okay. We've had a lot of conversations about the things we don't want to talk about, so.

Zone of truth it, Jack. I don't know how to do that. What? You don't know how to do that? I'm not a cleric. Sorry, Veranda. When I, when I was young, I found out I was different from the other kids. I, I have, I have magic, but it's, it's evil.

That there's something wrong with me. I, well, look, and she pulls back her hood, and she pushes aside a lock of hair. And you can see these small growths coming out of her. her scalp that look almost like twisted branches of a tree. These small horn-like protrusions. Oh. That's cute. I'm not normal.

Welcome to the club. Says the rich half-elf wizard. Honestly, it was part of the reason that I eventually felt like I could try to do something about this was because I saw the way that you all dealt with what was it called again? Zosen Waffle?

Ask Jack, he'll know. It's not important right now. He's dying to say it. I can see it. It's on the tip of his tongue. His name was... He's dying right now. The way that you all worked together

to defeat that creature, I'd never seen that kind of power before. Well, that's not actually true. I've never seen that kind of power before from people that aren't them. And she looks out of the alley toward the carnival. Those women aren't women.

Fucking Rob is like, uh, yeah. I think I saw what I saw. Okay, they look like women of me. All the boxes checked up. Okay, J.K. Rowling. They are. terrible monsters, and they are dangerous. And if we do nothing, this town will suffer.

They follow me wherever I go, from village to village. I have been their scout since I was taken from my home. It's been that way, almost ever since I can remember. I travel, they follow, and where they arrive, they bring misery. What do they do? What do they do? What's their first awful thing that these women do when they show up in a town? Honestly, I usually leave before they get here.

But I know from experience many years ago that children go missing, that people die, livestock are slaughtered. It's terrible. What do they gain from doing this? Children, livestock. They're monsters. I mean, we've seen enough of those already I'm sure you've seen more The worst part of this is

that I never felt like I could do anything about this until now And even now, part of me is wondering If this is the wrong idea We could leave, we could all leave right now And get away from this Now, Veranda, we don't run away from problems like this That's not what we do

Dorn sort of turns around with his axe and his hand and he's spinning he says and what run away from a battle I don't know about you guys but sounds to me like we might have an opportunity here to take out some really terrible people well slow your role Doran if we're gonna do this we're gonna have to be methodical about it but veranda why the change in heart it's not just seeing us defeat that creature I hope Because I realize day over day That slowly I'm turning into one of them

And I need to know That there's a way they can be defeated In case it would come to that Later Hmm Mari goes over to veranda And she sort of like Punch it's her

Yeah she just fucking takes her right in the jaw And drops her knuckle sandwich for you With the chair, Mari Problem solved Roll a strength check. One witch down, get the other three later, and away we go. Roll to four. Turn her into a snail.

Yeah. And she lifts her both her hands and goes, May I and she gestures at the woody growths on her head. Sure. Yeah, yeah. And she touches them to sort of feel gently what they are. Are they wood? Are they like plant?

Are they keratin or something fleshy? Roll in nature. check. They're 40-carat gold. Whoa. They're protruding tumors. You have terrible. This has got cancer.

I rolled a 21. Holy she. This is no substance that you recognize, but it is similar to a horn. It's strange. You can tell it's living. You can see like growth lines almost, places where there are newer elements um but it doesn't seem to be made of the material like a fingernail or a tooth it does seem to be somehow more organic very puzzling hmm is this is it always like this or does it have you

like cut it back no it hurts i can't i've tried hmm yeah i don't i don't know what this is all right Look, these things need to be stopped. If they're doing what you say they're doing, and I believe you, he says almost like questioning himself, you know, we need to do something about it. We can't have these people roving the lands, stealing children and hurting poor, innocent animals. Doran's kind of like standing behind you in the empty alleyway, swinging his axe, as if he's like practicing, getting ready to bat. Doren, relax. I told you I'm ready. But wait.

Why do we have flycatcher in a barrel? Great question. I don't know. You guys did that. Well, you wouldn't talk about any of this with flycatcher. You said he was a spy. That's a spy. Yes, everything that he sees and hears, they know.

Well, so then why are you questioning why we put him in a barrel? Doesn't that answer your question? Well, she asked. Yeah, I don't know why she asked either. I'm embarrassed by everybody right now. Look, we don't know. I think I forgot. I love that's in Mary's

I love that like actually in Mary's voice There's a lot of plight going on I don't know Look man the energy here's fucked You have to understand okay They know that I've been traveling with you So they know everything that you've said to me In the past few days

Right right right Why didn't I tell you my bank number Why didn't you leave Flycatcher as a stone And get away from it all? I don't know I'm a coward. Okay. What do you want for me, Jack?

I'm trying to change now. That's great. I'm trying to get the full picture. But there's no, there's no like, oh, if flycatcher dies, I also die or evaporate or something. Like, you're not bound to them in some way. I don't think so. I've never. All right.

They don't tell me all of the terms of this thing. Sometimes I'm compelled by them magically to do things. Okay. Don't put her axe away What you're talking about? I'm not putting my axe away Is the tressum evil or is it just You just can see it doesn't matter about the tressum We have an opportunity now

Veranda just said these women Know about us They know everything about us They don't know that veranda Has shared this information with us Because the flycatcher was away The first time she spoke And flycatcher can't hear us now

If we find out a way For the flycatcher to be fine after this Then we have an advantage Veranda can play right into their hand We can lure the women Into whatever sort of trap we want They might wonder why I pointed my wand at flycatcher And shouted a magic word

And then he And why flycatches And then he got stuck in a barrel When he reports out of our hats Listening to something really straight Why is my nanny cam in a barrel right now Well we can hope that Because they're currently performing

They may be not actively watching The cat's point of view Sure yeah I guess from the perspective, it's a limited window. All I'm saying is this. We should use the knowledge that Veranda has and the deception that she can offer to destroy these creatures

because it sounds like they're bad guys to use the jack term. Just like flycatcher. Jesus Christ. But I mean, you know, I mean, I agree with you, Red, but I mean, are we going to get much more of a surprise than coming out from the crowd into a full swing attack?

I mean, or is there... All these people are not aware that these three women are bad, and if anything, if they're smart, they're not going to attack back. They'd probably just say, what the hell's going on and get us thrown in jail?

What do you think what happened if you came out there swinging at these three women? The intelligent move is that they just put their hands up and say, what the hell's going on? Please have this man arrested, right? To my mind, the thing we want

least to happen is anyone in the village to get hurt. Yes. So this is a village that has been under siege for a long time. I think we get baby to sound the alarm. Everybody runs to their battle stations. There must be an instinctual pull to the sound of alarm

that's going to get these people to move out, clear the crowd a little bit, at least give us then a moment to go confront these people without a ton of bystanders in the way. Or we find a way to move the ladies to an isolated location. Veranda, how likely are they to combat? you know anything about that? Like, if we came out swinging, would they retaliate?

Would they duck and hide? What's their goal? Salino, the eldest one. She will defend herself if threatened, but I don't think she'd reveal her true nature to anyone. It's too important that this caravan stays discreet. The aloe, she's the blonde one. she has a temper and if you attack her I don't know what she would do but it would be ugly

usually when they come to town Salino can't stand discomfort she'll find somewhere comfortable to stay for the night they'll want feather beds they'll want warm rooms they'll want good food does that help yeah that helps a lot What was the pregnant one's name? Ossipete. She is the... Well, she's technically my mother, I guess. They're not human, okay?

Mm. She loves to tempt unfaithful men. She loves to steal children. She's a coward, though, deep down, like me, I guess. and if her life is threatened, she will run, and you will never find her. I mean, each one seems to have their own distinct personalities while in town. Veranda, could we take on all three? Does it make sense to try to bring them out into the...

Listen, you can't do anything now, okay? What? There's too many people around. You can't risk hurting all these villagers, and more to the point, When the three of them are together, they're far more powerful than even, I think, what you can handle. Hmm. I think I get what you're saying.

If we get them all alone. You can kill anything. That's right. God, you're so smart. Yes, that's right, Doran, and Murray Pat some on the head. Well done, Doran. So they tend to divide up once they're in town as they each go about their own wicked ways? I can't say what they'll do.

Well, I guess we just have to watch and find out. We said Selenol doesn't like discomfort, right? If I know her, she is itching to get herself into Captain Bebe's home, where she is going to perch herself in front of his fire and eat his food and find out something terrible about him or his wife or his family, and she will exploit that and feed off of the ill feelings and gain power from that. Mm-hmm. All right, all right. Well, that's fair. What about, uh... Aelo. Her favorite thing is to lure children into a false sense of security with tamed animals. I'm sure she's doing it right now.

Mm. Okay, okay. Then she will kill and eat them. The child or the pet? The children. Anybody that eats children, I'm definitely on my bad list, you know? Okay. Wow. Yes. Well, I mean, there's options there, too. Doran's child-sized, if you...

Hello, I'd like a balloon, please. You get a big elbow right in your stomach. You've got the disguise, and you could get shorter, and... And Osser Pete, is your mother. Like I said, she's going to find some way to procreate. She'll have fun. All right, so maybe the bar for her. I could see her trying to pick up one of the barracks

men and if Ossapit's the most likely to run maybe she should be first I think that's fair I like that thinking how can I help I can either keep flycatcher away no don't do away with flycatcher

I think everything needs to seem normal Vranda what do you need out of this do you need to confront them and see it over with do you just need to run away and know they're not going to hurt any people anymore what do you need to leave this in one piece or as close as you can because that's what we're here to help you do and save people

well yeah we're not a little bit of both i want to know that they're not going to harm anyone else ever again i want you to find each of them and kill them not run them out of town not not even keep this town safe but kill these monsters well that's what we do Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters Adam Frye, Amanda Kitchener, Amy Garza, Anne, Cecil Lee Wilson, Jerry Rose Anderson, Christopher, Colin Burkhart, Crow, Cypress Key, cytosine, DS, Danny, Default Trauma, Dippity, Elizabeth H, Emma, Ghost, Haley, Harper the Marks, Heather Nichols, J.D., Joy Robinson, K.R., KM, Cade, Kirsten Wolf, lasagna.

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