Dice Shame - 2-62 | 'On The Level'

Episode Date: November 2, 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: animal death, swearing, violence, claustrophobiaPart of the Rusty Quill Network Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does anybody feel like it's colder than it was yesterday? Yeah, it's cold. Just a bit of a headache, Alistair. Can I see your hands? Do you want to flip a coin? Oh, it gets no right on my head, Jack. You're going to get mad at me? Oh, God, I forgot you were here.

Come on, who knows what he's hiding? Yeah, okay. What's up? I also need that back. Did that not carry over from Mastika? And can you keep an eye on Jack or give him a little... See what's up with him? I'll go strike up a conversation like I often do.

He's like, he throws the axe of his... shoulder. He's like, he's like casually, like, sideling over. Welcome back to Dyshame. This is Season 2, Episode 62, on the level. MVP this week is Galaxy, who is nominated by Stuff and Such RQ. They wrote, Thank you so much, Galaxy, for introducing me to the newest obsession, Dyshame. It's so fun to scream about with you, you're the sweetest, and I love you to bits. Good on you, stuff and such, for the MVP nom, and thank you, Galaxy. Shall we do this?

Yay, let's do it. Woo! Well, well, well, well. Well, well, well, well. Well, well. Here we are again. Who's down the well? Little Jimmy.

Poor little Jimmy. Oh, God. I never actually watched Lassie. I only know that from like cultural osmosis. Lassie saves people that falls and fell in wells, I guess. Is that like a reoccurring thing in multiple episodes though? God, keep this kid away from Wells. Or was that just like a really important episode?

Because that's kind of become... They really need to do something about that well. It was stolen from the baby Jessica thing, right? No, this is well before the baby Jessica thing. Really? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fucking Lassie's like, what Lassie? In the fifties.

When? When did Lassie come into play culturally? 50s. Fifties. Episode 24 is called The Well. It would originally broadcast 1955. So baby Jessica stole her idea from Lassie. This is what we're saying.

I also just like this here just says, is Little Timmy stuck in the well? Did Timmy really fall into the well? No. Wait. It's a fraud? Apparently Timmy never fell in the well. It's fake.

It's like one of those. Luke I am your father type things where people think it's one thing but it's actually No, I am your father. I feel like at the lake growing up as a kid it might have been like on as a rerun somewhere that it was just like on in the background.

I feel like I've seen a lassie but it could very easily have been the littlest hobo and... I've seen a lassie. I've seen a lassie. I don't know what it. Could have been the 50 lassie, the 94 lassie. I think I've seen more the littlest hobo than lassey.

Yeah, let's say maybe you're... Maybe you're thinking a littleess hobo. Is littlest hobo Canadian? Yes. Or maybe it's Old Yeller you're thinking. Definitely seen Old Yeller many times. That was actually a beloved VHS that we had in the phallic household. And honestly, given how much I love dogs, I can't imagine my parents showing that to little me over and over and over again.

But I guess because we lived on a farm for a while. Maybe. They wanted you to know farm life. The death of animals. Dogs died. happened kind of frequently, and I think I felt differently about it when I was a kid than when I think about it now. Homeward Bound was maybe the one that we, that was Waud repeat in our house.

There's another, there's like two versions of that. There's Homeward Bound in like the longest journey or some shit. What's the other one called? Especially the remake. No, it's, uh, the Incredible Journey is Homeward Bound as a direct-to-d-D-Bond. Yeah, okay, so it was called The Incredible Journey in 1963, and then they remade it and it was called Homeward Bound. And then actually it was called Homeward Bound, Dot, Dot, the Incredible Journey.

So I guess they did both. Now we know. And then Homeward Bound, too. And based on a book, apparently. I didn't know that. A Scottish book. We're Homeward Bound today, aren't we? Wait, does that make Marie Sassy, the cat?

Yes, correct. I forgot that's what her name was. Yeah, yeah. Chase. Your brothers have fallen down well. Lucky. Chance, Shadow, and Sassy. There you go.

But does anyone know the name? of the original dogs from the original movie? What is it? Frodo Um

Samwise Rings Samwise Um Luath L-U-A-T-H Never No dogs

ever been named that In Luath Um History Bodger Are you Oh

These sound very Scottish Scottish are weird Bajer and T-A-O So it is a D-N-D-D party No no but here's the really weird thing. I didn't know this. So it's written by a Scottish author, but it takes place in northwestern Ontario. Wait, what? Huh. Yeah. It's set in the northwestern part of

Ontario, which has many lakes, rivers, and widely dispersed farm animals and talents. It was, it's actually, I didn't realize how Canadian it was. Wow. Yeah, wait, I'm, well, this is the greatest journey or what was it called? This is the incredible journey, the novel, which I guess was adapted into it. But I don't remember the movies being in the Canadian wilderness. Yeah, but they travel 300 miles, miles, through the Canadian wilderness. Probably we did measure miles in that.

Yeah, that's fair. I wonder, though, if, like, the original novel has, like, you know, touchstones in the Canadian wilderness where it's like,

oh, he came by the 401. I'm on Highway 69, head north. I just pulled up the Wikipedia page and I do, like, Bodger, whose full name is

Champion Borough Castle Brigadier of Down. Yes. Come now. Yes, which is a clunky name. We've really dropped the ball on animal names lately. For real. I'm just so, I'm so surprised that that it takes place in Canada, in Ontario, of all places. Are they in Sudbury?

What is this? Oh, no, but she moved to Canada, the author of this, right? Like she, yeah, I assume she didn't write it from Scotland to. She's just imagining what Canada's like. Or she lost her two dogs. I was, I was assuming that that was part of it. I didn't, I wasn't thinking she wrote it from Scotland. I'm, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

if you're saying, well, the Scottish author, they're in my mind, well, they must have lived in Scotland their whole life, because the Wikipedia page says, Scottish author, blank, I read that much at first, and then it's a, and this I assumed, okay, she emigrated or whatever, but, anyway, let us now D&D and Dund, allow us to Dund, allow us to Woo, let's do it. Yeah. Hey. Dun-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d.

Sounds like you're dodging fucking dodge balls. Uh-huh. Oh, God. Oh, God. As the cold light of dawn illuminates your makeshift campsite, we see hastily erected tents covered in a thick layer of snow. You're once brightly burning campfire, now just a sooty. wet smudge. It should raise your spirits

somewhat, however, to hear that you have all leveled up. Level 10. Nice. Y'all leveled for this. Does that get like a fun, like, sound effect in the background?

Yeah, it's going to go like this. Wow, that was, what a fun sound effect. Good sound effect. Great, everyone. He really totally feels like leveling up. Really carry it. I didn't hear anything. Oh, shit.

Alex, your headphones must not be working. We all heard it. He's suffering from a sudden momentary deafness. Yeah, congratulations all of you. It's been a while. Thanks. It was a tough game, but, you know, we gave it 110% and, you know, we really went out there and really gave it her all this week.

I would love to hear from each of you about. your new level 10 characters tell us tell the audience at home what we can be expecting from your from your person and uh what's your favorite thing and if you're rolling for hit dice we can do that as well should we start with the fresh meat yes alex nor saul did you want to give us the down low on marie level 10 i can i can this is this is fun because this is my first leveling up with you guys yeah so i'm like we love you for it yes yes I'm very excited because there's something so fun about starting with a high-level character and then only getting stronger.

Just incrementally, though. Yes, incrementally. But yes, Mari's staying mostly the same. I get a few more hit points because I'm a coward and I'm just going with the average plus my constitution modifier. All right, where do you end up? That puts me at 93 hit points. Hooray, which is still like a solid number.

You have beefy babe. Yeah, no, I got some... Babe, you're beefing. Oh, my God. Just a, just a... Mari is the beefcake of the party. Sure. She's, yeah, she weighs a hundred and thirty pounds soaking wet.

She can take a punch. Yeah, but only one. Oh, come on. And... From a giant, yes. But, uh, but yeah, I think the, I think the big change, um, is that, uh, the starry forum, which I've slowly been working with, uh, gets a lot, gets a lot more fun with us, because now there's three forms for starry form, two of which I've used, one of which is still

in my back pocket. And now I can change it at the top of my turn without using an action. So I can swap starry forms, which are good because they all have different forms. And also one of them, the dragon form, which I've pulled out relatively recently, I can now fly with it. So I actually get a fly speed. Nice. Um, which means, uh, you get airborne, Mari. So, uh, she's gonna be up there just laying down the law with, with, uh, with guiding bolts. So, yeah. So, and I think that's, that's the biggest part is that I now get to, I, yeah, my, uh, my, my, my, uh, my story form is going to be a little more entertaining. I also, the fun thing and I, I, I think I told Joe this, but, um, the, one of the story forms allows for more healing stuff.

And now I just get to stack healing stuff. So if I do a healing spell, I get the spell. And then if I'm in the form, it's 2D8 on top of that plus five. And if I'm holding the, what's it called, sickle, then it's another 1D4. So, yeah, so now it's going to be good for healing. But I think that's the big thing. I got some more spells. I got some more hit points.

And yeah, that's where I've netted out. Nice. Any spell you're particularly excited about? I mean, I am excited to have that extra fifth level spell slot now, so now I can no longer just be camping on it and hoping that no one requires me to use a greater restoration again, which is most of what I've been doing. Now I can also hurt people with it.

But I am, I'm kind of looking forward to spike growth, which is like a lower level spell, but it is in a 20-foot radius. basically I can just lay out just a shitload of spikes and it makes it difficult terrain and also every time anything moves through it every five feet is 2D4 piercing damage so if it's a tight space

good luck getting down that hallway but yeah I played in a Pathfinder campaign as a druid around level 10-11 and I was like a pit and spike-based druids so it was all like spiked pit pit, spike growth, a lot of like molding terrain, but, but mostly spike based. So I'm really excited to see that in combat. I've got some, some things I've been reading up on and some stuff

that I want to do. And I want to, yeah, just make, make life a whole lot more difficult for the enemies and just start healing the shit out of everyone. I actually like being a healer. People complain about it and they don't want to be it because it's like not, it's not like the most dramatic role. But I think it's great. Also, please protect me. I'm the only one. one saving you from death. Very true. Oh, that's why you're doing it. You're not doing it because you like it.

You just want us to save you. Basically, yes. Please protect the squishy magic user. I am the one with all the healing spells. I was going to say, you say squishy, but you recognize that you have probably the most hit points now. I think you're within. Protect the squishy healer.

I got, no. It's like, fuck it, Mari. You should be first in life. On top of the wild shape. You're within 10 points of Doran probably. I think so. Yeah, I think. The wild shape is basically a well of.

of HP. It's true. It's true. I, uh, I, I, I,

I, yeah, that wild shape. I mean, I feel like it'll be burning in a lot on, um, starry form,

but, that's fair. But that one makes me, very cool. Cool. Red. Tell us about level 10 red. What are you excited about?

Well, first and foremost, I've been converted. At least for this level. I, especially early on, would take the standard, uh,

no role for hit die. because honestly, I have a zero with my con and I just couldn't risk it at the early levels. And I feel like it's fair because at the early levels, I can't risk a one. But now that I'm getting a little beefier and honestly, the party is stronger overall, I can risk getting a one. So I am going to roll it right here, right now. Is this a first? Dishame first.

Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling. That is a 10 on a D10. And I've just gone up 10 hit points. Look you. 10 more hit points. So, yeah, that bumps me up to 76 hit points. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Beyond that, not bad. Ranger or unearthed or cana rangers I'm playing is not great. Rangers are pretty famously shit. But, you know, hey, listen, I love playing red because we have given him all manner of exciting ways to make Rangers fun and accessible. But all I get this level, I get no new spells, no new anything.

But what I do get is I get hide in plain sight, which is interesting. I can opt not to move on my turn. Instead of like rolling to hide, I can just opt not to move. And if I do that,

then any creature that's attempting to detect me takes a negative 10 penalty to their perception check. And that can carry over if I don't move turn after turn basically. So. Very cool. I mean, I kind of, I don't know why my mind jumps to this, but there's a scene in

the Hunger Games where the dude like paints his face and he like looks like a log. And for some reason my mind goes there. It's like when you don't move, you just kind of like stay perfectly still. You kind of blend into the scenery. But maybe a better analogy and a less embarrassing one would be in Lord of the Rings when Frodo like throws the cloak over him and they're like indecipherable from the landscape it's just like you know they didn't have

to roll hide they just kind of don't move and everything is good and that to my knowledge and believe me I'm going to be looking while everyone else levels up is the only thing I get the only thing you get not even more spell slots it's just nothing it's like nothing

I was just imagining it's like a predator when Arnold Schwarzenegger was covered in mud and the predator can't see him because he's like he's cold now and that's what I'm imagining red's just like completely disgusting like covered in mud and it's like did you do that no I just look like this that's fair yeah so yeah I mean it only really benefits me it's interesting because in the players handbook because rangers are so weak they they have like optional things you can take at each level they're like or take this at this level if you

fucking want I don't know but the other option wasn't even that good either it was like I could take a d8 of temporary hit points so it still only benefits me and I was like whatever, I might as well just continue to be sneaky. So, but yeah, that's it for me. I'm very happy about 10 more hit points. So I'm at 76 hit points right now. Nice. Yay.

I'm beefier myself. Hell yeah. Doran, what are we looking at for level 10, Doran? Yeah, so I rolled a 9. Ooh, pretty dee. For my hit points. Mm-hmm. So I get to pick two more maneuvers for my combat superiority.

and actually I was able to replace one as well. So what I did is I replaced my maneuvering attack, which would have essentially, I never used it. I could have said, oh, you know, you go over there instead of, you know, maneuver one of your people into a better position. I never really used it. So I've replaced that with a disarming attack. And the disarming attack is just that, you know, I can disarm an opponent.

And then I also took as two new ones, the brace feet, which is kind of cool. It's like the same effect of attack of opportunity, except when a creature moves into reach, I can use a reaction to expend a superiority dye and then attack the creature and add my superiority of death. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's really good.

I love that. So that was kind of cool. And then the other one is a precision attack, which when I, attack a creature, I attack them with more power. You just hit them harder. Good. Before or after making the attack roll so I can add my superior to die to that attack damage. Sounds like Doran's never going to miss between all the lucky stuff plus you could always

throw a precision attack. Improved critical, all that. Very cool. I have a quick question before we move on. Tash's Caldron of Everything has another option for me, actually, which I didn't realize. It's called Nature's Veil. Nature's Veil. So it's book published.

It's a 10th level feature that replaces the hide-and-sight feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature, blah, blah, blah, blah. You draw on the powers of nature to hide yourself from view briefly. As a bonus action, you can magically become invisible along with any equipment you're wearing or carrying at the start. oh sorry until the start of your next turn so it's one turn you can use this feature a number of times equally proficiency bonus and you regain it uh during a long rest do you want that instead i mean join me in being a nature hippie so it's invisible versus fucking easily more powerful but there's a limited number of times per long rest and just recall that we're extending the long

rest i mean put it this way hide in plain sight gives me absolutely zero joy if this is going to With Pass Without Trace, which I use pretty often, it already grants plus 10. And this is just like a selfish version of that. Because if you're like, hey, guys, I'm going to be stealthy and not move, but you guys can't. This at least gives me some, like, movement around. Are you cool if I do that? Yeah. Cool.

Then I'm just going to retake it. And for my level 10, which I'm really excited about it, in Tasha's cauldron of everything, there is the nature's veil option. which replaces the hide-in-plain sight feature, which instead says you draw on the powers of nature to hide yourself from view briefly. As a bonus action, you can magically become invisible along with any equipment you're wearing or carrying

until the start of your next turn. And I can use this a number of times equal to my proficiency bonus, and I get them all back when I finish a long rest. So I am hands down going to take the Nature's Vale option because that to me is infinitely cooler for many, many reasons. And a really exciting thing. And again, it's funny, reading through Rangers, the amount of things they're like, optionally take this, optionally take this. It's like, they know it sucks.

And they're like, but you know, we got options, guys. Don't worry. Take this instead. So, yeah, nature's veil option. Red's invisible. Can you do that like outside of combat or? It says until the end of your next turn. Oh, so turn.

So, yeah, probably just in time. Whenever you're in turn-based situations. Yeah. last but not least jack page yeah level 10 i mean jack's having a time at the moment having just had his head rattled a little bit um so much so that he's actually changed subclasses or oh wow so he's no longer a lore master and we'll will soon discover he's going to be journeying and learning the school of illusion oh needo which you know story-wise kind of makes sense because we've now got someone that's a little bit more of a well the druid she's got the lore and the animals and the

yeah well just to take a look behind the curtain here we have been essentially playtesting this lore master wizard for the past 10 levels aka four years and we found that it's a little bit unbalanced. And from what, from what we've read on the internet, that seems to be a very common opinion. So I think just in the spirit of trying to have a game that feels a little bit more even, we're just retooling Jack a little bit. Yeah. So there's lots of new, lots of new things that are going to come out, but a lot of them definitely focus around illusions and manipulating them and trying to relearn how magic works for Jack. And I'm going to roll my hip points. Hell yeah.

Do it. Do it. Nice. And I got a three. So five hip points bringing me up to 70 total. Nice. Solidly in the rear. It's a good even number though.

Nice. That's okay. Wait, Alex, how many hit points do you have now? 106. All right. Nice. Alex wins. Yeah.

I've also just been sending Rob Gifts of Job from development. And he's like, I'm doing illusions now. Illusions. The new jack page. He's really taking a hard turn here. Did you have any spells or any abilities that you're excited to showcase? I mean, I think there's a lot of really cool things, but even just like minor illusion now can make sounds and picture happen at the same time.

And all of his other illusions, he can sort of set the parameters of when he cast the spell and as an action any time while it's going on, change the parameters. So they can kind of evolve with them. So he can disguise self and change. change that disguise as an action throughout the rest of that hour or whatever. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I feel like as a group, you've all gotten more strategic and sneaky this level. That was our plan.

Yes. Strategy. I don't know about Mari. She's going to be really shiny and flying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone else is like, don't look at me. Don't look at me. And Murray's like, look at me.

I'm a dragon. Very cool So now that we know So you guys wake up It is the morning of the 10th of Alturiac The claw of winter And as I don't know if you guys remember

We got a lot of claws coming up It's the first of three claw months For some reason It's a quarter of the claw Yeah I don't know about the writers of whoever wrote these month names but

you've seen lobster rolls the whole time yeah David you'll be good another claw sure Michael whatever you think we're both getting paid

the same amount of money right all right clawed is does anybody feel like it's colder than it was yesterday red sits up snow falling from him yeah it's cold

Because the damn tent wasn't working. What the hell happened? Oh, yeah. Listen, I don't mind sleeping outside, but, you know, I've gotten used to a few comforts. I've got to reset my thinking a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Jack, who usually is the first up to see the sunset has taken a leisurely time hanging out in his tent until crawling out once everybody else is up. I love the idea that, like, all of us, like, get out and we're all, like, looking towards the blank spot that Jack usually is.

And then, like, we all turn as, like, rumbling comes from the tank. And, like, bed ahead, Jack comes out. Yeah, totally. What the hell's happened? Still looking a bit charred from the night before. Hasn't really had time to put himself together yet. Isn't ready for people, no. He's not quaffed.

Quaffing is quite hard with the singed hair from last night also. It's got to find a new look that is less mad scientist, I think. Jack, you've had better days. Are you okay, Jack? Oh, God, I forgot you were here. He, Alistair Noggins, is fully sitting inside of, of Mari's bed roll, he has made it into his cape with a hood, and he is entrenched. Just a bit of a headache, Alistair, that's all.

Good Wackle, maybe get us sorted. Yeah, she goes rid of Jack. She's like, can I see your hands for a second? Sure. Yeah, I guess. They're a little bit ink-stained and also terribly scarred. Yeah, yeah, and she's just looking at the scars. So are they, are the scars?

Are they anything visible? Are they shaped like anything? Or is it just like just scars? They are shaped like stuff. There are some symbols that seem to be branded into the palms of Jack's hands. One of the hands is in gnomish script. There's some writing on there.

And then the other hand, the right hand, there's some infernal script. Uh-oh. She would see the gnomish and she would sort of recognize the look of it from like seeing it but can't read it. But then probably would also just from vague magic stuff like recognize maybe that like what infernal is. It's not real to read it, but just like hang on a second. And like she looks at it and healing magic and all this stuff like it just doesn't seem to do anything. You know, she kind of can like trace it but nothing happens.

normally things I would heal quite easily and she just sort of like looks at Jack and is like if you want I can give you like a like I have some solves like I have some herbs and no it it hardly even hurts anymore thanks for trying and Jack tries to like hide the symbols on his hands which he himself hasn't really like stopped to read or or do anything with you know put him in his pocket and kick a little snow around kind of trying to find anything to distract people from him at the moment oh get snow right on my head Jack, jeez, all right. Sorry, I was trying to dig out a campfire.

Yeah, you better. Red Lake walks up to him, and he's like, you know, you've really scared me last night. How dare you try to crack that thing open without me? You hurt yourself. I got scared a little bit there. I'm sorry, I'm sorry you were scared. Look, Jack, you and I have our differences,

but I don't want you to die or anything. I don't want to die either. I got lots of life to live. Yeah, well, you know, I just, I don't have the full emotional range to express how much I care about you, so I'll get mad at you instead. Classic. Mari's just over there.

She's poking around the fire. She's avoiding Elister and just, like, starting to make some porridge. Like, oh, God. Elster sidles up to you. He's like, classic red. Look, man. Doran's sitting there with Mari, and he's, like, sharpening his blade and kind of looks over at Mari and does one of those, like, okay.

Look. Yeah. Are they always like this? You're going to get mad at me. Yeah, I'm going to get mad at you. Look at what other kind of secrets are you holding in that bag there? Is there anything else you want to bring up to me at the moment? Any other conversations or letters you've been having with anyone?

What? Oh, what? And Red like suddenly realizing, he woke up this morning just angry about what happened last night because he got scared. And now he's suddenly remembering that you handed a letter back to him. And he's like, what? No. I mean, what?

Exactly. So maybe we'll just make breakfast. Yeah. Wait. Yeah. Red Lake turns around and stops and turns back and he's like, wait, you're angry yet? Yeah.

Okay. I'll go hunt. And Red Lake walks down to the river. He's like talking to himself. He shouldn't have been my, well, I shouldn't have talked to. Damn. Doran, which one of these guys do you want to go talk to, Redder Jack? I don't know.

Before they kill each other. You want to flip a coin? I love the idea that Mari and Doran are like talking and Elster just like leans in slowly between the two of them The camera just pans down and he's directly between them Mari sort of looks at him and goes like go find some more wood We need some more wood for this fire Go get some branches yeah yeah fine

Elster go with the fire Alster make the branches I don't even care that I'm a world-class tinkerer and have this whole campsite all set up and jiffy, but no, and robots. And he's constantly wondering himself. Anyone who shuts robots under their breath and then wanders off is a hero in my book.

He's earning his keep now. I'm here for, I'm here for Cravy, Alistair. Yes. Strange little guy, isn't he? Yeah, I don't know. He's something's weird, and I don't know what to do with him. And I'm really tired of him.

being in my tent already. He's still wearing your bed roll, by the way. I also need that back. I think we're going to be passing the path that that'll take him back to Loudwater. Maybe we just send him on his own way. Maybe. I don't know. I don't want him.

He's already spent enough time in a pocket. I don't know. Yeah. I don't want him to get like caught up again in another satchel or whatever he was in. True. So figure out what to do with him and figure out to do with these guys because. Well, who do you? Who do you want to talk to?

I'm going to go talk to Red because clearly there's a bee in his bonnet and you got to go. Is there really? Metaphorically. I didn't think bees are a rat. Yeah. It's metaphorically. Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But, um, well, yeah, you know. And can you keep an eye on Jack or give him a little see what's up with him? Okay. I'll go strike up a conversation like I often do. He's like, he throws the axe of his shoulder. He's like, he's like casually. like sideling over like like whistling to himself like just don't mind me hey jack how's it um yeah and marie marie wanders down to the water to wherever red is wandered off to yeah red's just

firing into the river and pegging salmon and walking over and like pulling them up throwing these and you come down there's like a pile of like six really big fat salmon and he's just like throwing them onto the shore muttering to himself. I can't, yeah, it's privacy these days. I mean, not that I, you know, I mean, I would, but that's different because I, oh, hey, Murray. Hi, hi, are you planning to jerk these or what? What?

Oh, oh, oh, you mean dry them, yeah. I realized. I realize that. There's a different, where I come from. I don't know about you, but jerking typically means something a little different, but it's all right. It's okay. I'm just all pissed off, Mari. Sorry, I don't have my head screwed on straight.

I'm all angry at him, Red points up to Jack a few hundred feet away. I mean, yeah, I'm not a fan of the fact that he was apparently going through that puzzle box. But I thought you put that puzzle box away. I thought that was in your style. I did put that puzzle box away, and he went into my... Look, okay, I'm not really that angry. I'm angry, but I'm not that angry. Look, I get scared about losing him.

He and I butt heads. He's like a brother to me, probably more of a brother than anybody else here, frankly. And that's probably why we butt-head so much. And, you know, what would have happened if we woke up and he was just dead, just gone? Now, I can't deal with that kind of loss again. Not after Kray Loth, not after everything we've been through. It's too much. And I can't say it to him because it just brushes it off.

He always just turns around and says, oh, yeah, something like that. And always makes me feel worse about saying it. So I just get angry at him. But also, I think I did something wrong. Wait, okay. I mean, well, there's a lot happening here. And I think that, you know, maybe, maybe I think it's okay if you, if you talk to him about it and... No, no, no, I can't.

What else? What did you do? Yeah, he saw something in my bank. Look, I, Torin and I have been in human, cumulative, avocado. All right. And I'm, he, he asked me not to say anything to Jack. And I will respect that, you know. Look, look, way back when, when we first met Tori.

And Toran and I, you know, I don't know, hit it off a little bit. I guess he saw a little bit of youthful exuberance in me that was kind of kitchy, he said. I didn't get the word, but he said it. He asked me to pick up a present for Jack even. So, you know, we get back and we say this and that and whatever. But apparently he had spoken to B about some advice I had given her, and he wanted to reach out to me about similar advice. B, my daughter, you know, she was struggling because,

the whole point is Torrens asked me not to talk to Jack about it right now and I guess while searching through my bag well the group bag really he saw the letter I wrapped it in a chicken

obviously looks at you as if like as if that's the answer like obviously so so why would he look it should have been saying did that not carry over from Mazdaq no I usually keep my

stuff in a folder, but what did you tell B? What did Torin tell you? I mean, I know you said you can't tell Jack, but you can't talk to Jack about this, but you didn't say you couldn't talk to me. I don't want to betray. Look, listen, hey, me and trust has been a very nebulous, poor thing in the past, and I'm trying to rebuild that. And look, Murray, this is nothing to do with you, I promise you. And honestly, I want to tell you, but maybe when we get back to Waterdeep, if Toran says it's okay, I can actually share it with you. The long and short, of it is. I can't tell Jack what the letter said per se, and it's

something personal, and I'm kind of in a pickle, as Doran would say. Jack is shuffling around trying to kick snow out of where the fire pit was last night, and, you know, tripping over stuff hidden under the snow, half falling over, just having a not very coordinated attempt at trying to, like, get down to something where we, that would be dry enough to, you know, start piling wood on.

Doran comes, uh, kind of humming up. He's a, so trying to look very natural. Mm-hmm. So, uh, hey, how's it going, Jack? Jack, right? It was Jack, right? Yeah, Jack turns and looks at you and, like, makes eye contact and his pupils are just so, big.

Oh, and Doren, like, what's up? It turns around, starts to walk away and then, no, no, no, no, no, talk to you. It turns back around. Listen, I, I, I, I just, well, um, you look like maybe you didn't want some company there for a moment, but I, um, well, you know, I just, I happen to see the exchange that you had with, uh, with red there. And I mean, you know, we're all friends here. and I thought maybe you would like to talk about your feelings.

Mari made me come. Or we don't have to. She picked red and I didn't know what to do. Yeah, my feelings. I'm feeling my head hurts. I got a headache. That's a feeling. Yeah, yeah.

You got blown into that tree pretty bad. I'm feeling a little bit. Couldn't sleep much last night. That's so tired, I guess. Is that a feeling? Yeah. Tried to write a little bit. I had a couple ideas, but nothing seemed to work out.

And I can't make the tent anymore. And I don't feel good about that either. I feel like that was kind of the thing that I was bringing to this. So now I'm trying to make a fire. So what, you pulled out the puzzle box because you couldn't sleep? I had an idea of how I could get in there and it worked. But it sounds like you're upset. I mean, you know, if there's anybody,

be upset, I guess. Am I, I'm, well, I, you, you, you never know what Red's keeping in that bag. I'd always, you always, you always surprises, you know, from live chicken to dead chicken to roasted chicken, you can, to soup, soup and paperwork right next to each other. It's, uh, words are my thing. You didn't find something that he shouldn't have had, did he? No, I didn't find anything I shouldn't have. There was nothing in there that Red shouldn't have had or couldn't have had.

There's no reason for anything wrapped around. chickens in Red's bag to be a problem to me at all. It's fine. And now we just got to kick the snow out of this fire pit and Jack like kicks the snow out and falls on his ass in the snow. And start a fire for breakfast.

That's, you know, Jack, I mean... That's what we got to do. We've got a fire going over there and he points to the fire that was going over there. Oh. It's besides the point. I mean... When? We were sitting around making porridge. It's okay. But you know,

I mean, I think it's besides the point. You're obviously flustered and in your minds elsewhere. I mean, look, if Fred's stolen something from you, I mean, just tell me. I mean, maybe this is a bigger issue than it is than what it seems to you. I mean, you know, he used to want to kill me. You know that, right? I mean, come on, who knows what he's hiding? He did?

Yeah, don't you remember that? No, I do. I never wanted to kill you. Yeah, no, I, there's just so much going on, it's nothing. I mean, Jack, Jack, and Doran kind of walks up to you and reaches up to put his hand on your shoulder and he kind of like looks up at you with his hand outstretched onto your shoulder. He says, you can tell me, Jack. I'm a, I'm a great cough at on. Not a literal pickle. I'm saying I'm in a tough spot.

Can you tell me what you told B? Because clearly that's tied to all of this. Red turns around and like stairs at the babbling brook for a moment and then turns back. Look, we had a traveling companion with us for a while. Much like your friend Elster there. Much like Elster and you, this friend of ours, Orin,

grew very close to B. And the two of them, I don't know, I think they were a bit of an item at one point. and uh well orin let b know of his feelings and b didn't want that uh be had a tough time with giving up her life of adventure of travel to settle down with somebody that uh she wasn't sure she loved so i well i mean we had a personal conversation about stuff that I went through and seeing the great wide world and all the things I wanted from her. I mean, it came from a dad perspective, but obviously it affected her in a positive way.

And I guess, even though my intelligence score is pretty low, my wisdom is pretty damn high. So I justify a lot of these deeper moments in character. I mean, you've got your wits about you. I have to. It's my spell modifier. I checked your pack. I saw the sheet. Thank you. Wait, what? No, I get meta. What are you talking about?

Yeah, so he's angry at me, because he saw the letter. He couldn't read all the contents, thankfully. My chicken greaser, guys cleverly hid what I wanted it to hide. Red says, looking into the middle distance, like past you. That was a really greasy chicken. But why did you keep the letter? I was eating chicken, and I needed a plate. It doesn't matter. Look, who's that fault here? Look, Jack has every right to go into the bag. It was stupid of me to leave it out. I suppose I owe Torin an apology for that, but what the hell do I say to Jack? I can't tell him what the letter said or betray Torin's trust. Mind you, I guess Jack's earned my trust more than Torin, but, oh, I don't know, I'm all flummoxed. Is that the right word?

Doran, is it flummoxed? No, it's flaxie. got it Doran's flummoxed well I think we all kind of are but I think in the end you might have to talk to him and you might have to make a call

of whose trust is worth more to you because I think Jack I don't know if you got to look at his hands but something was in that puzzle box a spell or kind of magic that I don't know and he's looking rough in a way

that is different than what I am used to see in. Jack? No, he's the same old Jack he's always been. You're overthinking it. He's fine. He was probably just angry, because he read the letter, and he didn't want to put the tent up for us, that's all. Can I tell you something? Do you speak

Gnomish? Do you know infernal? Nomish, no. Infernal? Um, no, I don't. I know Draconic, if that helps. Hmm, no, all right, well, it's not... Oh, wait. Oh, never mind. I was going to say Jack has comprehend languages. I know he does, but...

Yeah, you're right, good point. Do you think we could ask him without telling it? Oh, no, that'd be tricky, eh? I don't know. But hold on, what should I do? Oh, you just think I should make the call? What would you do? Would you save Torrance trust to tell Jack?

I think you're going to have to talk to Jack. You tell him? You would betray Torin's trust? It's something that's still tied to Jack, and if he can't talk... to you about it, then you both have to carry it separately. And that will always be a wall that will exist between the two of you. Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Adam Frye, Amanda Kitchener, Amy Garza, Anne, Atholagoth, Cecil Lee Wilson, Cherry Rose Anderson, Christopher, Colin Burkhart, Crow, Casey, DS, Dippity, Elizabeth H, Flynn, Gareth Bradshaw, Haley, Haley, Haley, Harper the Marks, Indrid Hartley, Jekyll, J.D., Joy Robinson, Jewry, K. K.M., Kade, lasagna,

Last Ruth on the left, Leader Jay, Lizzie Demon, Lorelei Feldman, Matilda Rushing, Melinda Curley, Moon, Melissa, Merlin, Sam C, Reagan, Ren, Ruth Ann Reed, Scotty, Sray 96, Tony Pepperoni, Zander Morning Dove, Zephyrus, and Zach House. Woo! That's the last thing I said was Pickle. Return serve, Mary. Pickle. Yeah, I'm aware of those. We have those back at, we have them back home. We call them gherkins. Not a literal pickle. I'm saying I'm in a tough spot. Yeah, we have those. We call them gherkins. What do you want? I was trying to think of like, I was trying to remember what you were discussing and I was like trying to like think of back.