Dice Shame - 2-66 | 'Silent but Deadly'

Episode Date: November 30, 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.

That's not going to do it. He can go back in the maelstrom, please. Alistair! God damn it. Time to squish this worm. I've had a good time. I think I'm good. Oh, no. That's our thing. Nothing I'm not used to.

There's a real panic. Let's take them down, guys. That just hits. Surprise, the wall's illusion. Slappers only. I feel like this is karmic for threatening to freeze Doran earlier. We'll call it there. Lots of fun.

All right, good night, guys. Go on. I've had a good time. I think I'm good. Haven't it? Welcome back to Dyshame. This is Season 2, Episode 66, Silent but Deadly. MVP this week is me?

What? Scotty nominated me as MVP, and they wrote, Harlan gives his whole self to everything he does and then thinks of ways he could give even more. His dedication to the people he cares about and to the community he is built with Joe shines through. It's a source of inspiration to all of us,

and that's why he's this week's and every week's MVP. Thank you, Scotty. That means a lot. You're very sweet. Aw, thanks, Scotty. All right, shall we do this? Yeah, let's do it. Woo!

So, um, I don't know about you guys. I, I have a pretty great life going for me. I'm very lucky in lots of different ways, very privileged. However, things can always get just a little bit better. I was thinking today as I was walking up the stairs, balancing a bunch of handfuls of stuff and also like a wiggly infant that I would just love to be able to like have a magic way to. somehow, like, attach this child to me. Not in, like, a baby carrier, but just, like, glue her temporarily to my body in, like, a comfortable way that's going to be hands-free. You know what those stone golems are all about now, don't we? Or even, like, make up, like, a pouch or something, right? Something. And so I was thinking...

A kangaroo pouch. If you guys could invent a magic item or choose one that's extant from a... d and d lore for yourself to have in this modern world what would be your chosen bespoke or otherwise fireball million in one uses man i wish i had a light don't worry sir you're just going to stand 60 feet away from me please yeah that's a sassy remark from someone who's in fireball range oh that's a good question um i don't know i mean it can be You said extant lore, right? Yeah, so you can choose anything from the books or invent your own.

I think, like, the impulse would be to go really powerful, but I don't think I'd want to. I've always, even in, like, D&D lore, I've always enjoyed the more weird utility, you know, the decantler of Endless Waters. The what? What did I say? Decanter. Decanthers. It's like a pair of antlers. They're just antlers that endlessly pour out whatever you, beverage you want.

I'm tired, okay? Suck on my antlers, boys. They errate your wine. And global warming, wait, this is just a global warning that we're both very tired. A global warming? El Nino's come through. Sash the energy right out of the A. Yeah, decanter endless water type vibe of, you know, chime of opening.

Obviously, less use. Actually, I was going to say less use for a chime of opening in our world, but maybe not. There's lots of locks. If you want to visit a bank. What if you just can't find your key? or like I'm constantly like I'm like oh my keys are my backpack I don't want to go in my backpack if I could just be like ding and just have my door open much much happier yeah don't stress about this being a magic item that's going to be like the best best thing ever I'm stressing

about it all his hair out and everything over there I've got to give an answer I mean the my brain went to like mending or press to digitation or something which is like who doesn't want to clean something instantaneously or flavor something instantaneously to taste like whatever you want or whatever like all of that you know or or ever something breaks in your hands you're just like fuck I wish I hadn't done that or that one thing and I could just instantly put that moment in time back and now suddenly everything's you know damn kitten oh no wait a minute that way in a place you want the kitten to taste like what now you can't mend the kitten that's That's fair, though.

That's smart, actually. I like that a lot. Also, you'd be really handy to, like, a bunch of people, which is really cool, right? Job is the best guy at the buffet. You'd be walking through the mall, you know, if malls still existed, and you'd be like, hey, oh, drop that, the wheel on your... Kidden. Car.

Stickcase? Well, I was going to say the wheelchair, but then I was like, wait, what's not, like, single-out wheelchair users as being, like, in need of help. They're, like, lie. You're, like, help me, and no one's helping. Just don't look at them. Martha, just don't look. Don't make eye contact.

I wonder if Mending could fix your phone better than a bag of rice at least, right? Oh, my God, absolutely. Better than a child. Or like a Control Z option. Yeah. You're like, oh, no. Control Z at that.

I like that one. Yeah. But the thing about, I think the cool thing about your question is, it's a magic item, right? Because to me, the default is a powerful item. Is it an item? But if it's too powerful, people are going to want to take it. Like, if it's,

a physical thing that can be stolen you know look at the one ring i heard a lot of hubbub about that you know people wanting it what's the story there i hear it's precious so here it's good can i have it word on the street you know like it's not just a power that no one can take from you like you know you're not a magician yeah but you have like a ring or something that people might want if it's too good see i was thinking i would want the the ability to always be able to have my phone in my pocket but if it's if it's an item that's going to allow me to always have my phone with me I'm just going to forget the item places I'm going to have the same problem again I love the idea of this magic item with an air tag stuck to it exactly oh what is this air tag

it's my locate object ball I use it to locate the air tag the part of that I love like there's There's something in the, like, handy haversack or, or, um, where, like, you can think the thing you want and it just is on top of the... For grocery shopping? It's on top of the bag, right? Like, you can just live your life out of this bag and, you know, you always find your thing. But isn't the haversack, like, you pull out and like a giant moose comes out or am I thinking of something?

No. That's a bag of tricks. Oh, a bag of tricks. I was like, very different. Rob's just in line for, like, the zoo. Where's my wallet? Where's my wallet? Hey, hand me the tickets.

And he's like, I'm looking, I'm looking. And then a fucking giant moose just comes out. Yeah, that's the decantler. luckily he's at the zoo so if there were anywhere you were going to pull out an antelope it's true the zoo is not a bad place of all my god it got out it got out we don't have one of those will it escape you do now I think is the thing well it wants in pay you $10,000 for that like a bag of holding is awesome but

realistically it wouldn't have that much use in our boring everyday when you're moving it will I yeah because like the thing I was thinking was that like I love to travel and I hate checking a bag. I just don't check a bag and if I could just have a carry-on suitcase like a little carry-on that I'm never thinking about like, is it going to fit in a little easy jet like thing? Like we're never concerned about it. Like I would love a backpack of holding. That would make me the happy.

But so here's the problem. You've now given yourself, you said I would love to travel without stuff, but you could just now invent a magic item that allows you to instantly travel. So you like cut out the middleman of like, wait a minute. It's not as stylish as her side bag. That's true. The portable hole, I mean, if we're talking about like things that, I mean, personally, it would make more sense to, to, if you're moving to slap down a portable hole because you just like, you know, shove your couch in there. It's like slide it in type thing.

But you go one person moving company, you know what I mean? Like the bag of holding, you still kind of got. But I think you end up, you end up with the red problem where you two. awesome. There's a real, if you had, if you had infinite space, you could become a hoarder really easy of just like everything, like, like, my, lots of people. This microwave looks like it could be salvaged. Yeah. My grandfather had a garage with a lot of space in it. And then it over time had a lot less space in it to where like the usable parts were like one spot here and the place where he parked his truck. And then everything else was a mountain of stuff. Does it ever really fill,

though? The portable hole. Does it feel? There's a fixed amount of space. I think. Yeah, it's finite. Okay, okay. It's not a black hole. I was going to say, because, like, you throw it in and you're like, it's gone now. Maybe you're thinking about it all wrong, not to be filled, but, you know, but like, I think your question, the way you posed it, to me, it's almost like you could have an ability to.

You said, like, you know, a way for you to have the child glued to you, you know what I mean? Like, if I had, if I had the choice to choose an ability, can I throw it out there? Sure. I did a little bit of exploring. Let's do it. Wait, when? In the last 30 seconds. And I was thinking, wouldn't it be kind of neat if, like, you had the capacity to learn

or retain knowledge, like, super quick, you know? Sure. And because I think that would be a pretty cool thing to do. Now, just implant that skill. I think that would be pretty cool. That's all. Wow, you cracked Rava. He's fully taken off his glasses to laugh away.

from the microphone. It was just the way the thing to do camera kind of trill off to like nothing. It would be a pretty cool I kind of like that I do.

But you know what the problem with that is? There would be a, I mean, look, yes, the world is always growing and there's always more

to learn and blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah, but there's also like, the stuff, well, because I can't wait to meet him.

The minute I said this point, which is that eventually you're going to learn all the stuff you want to know pretty quickly, and then you're kind

going to be like, what am I doing this ability? I knew the counter to that It would be like, well, there's always stuff we're exploring. So I was kind of countering my own way. That's the character. But, you know, you want to learn French instantly done.

You want to learn, you know, this instantly done. And then you're kind of like, well, let me back it up. Here's what went through my mind because I was like, I don't know how to weld. I don't know how to weld, right? And I've never done welding. It would be something that I would want to learn, right? But, but, but why? Well, I have my reasons.

I want to learn to weld. I don't know. I got to weld some shit, okay? Why not? I do shit. Let him weld, let the man weld. Shut the fuck up. This isn't about why I want to weld.

I hate to tell you this though, Alex. You could learn to weld without magic. Oh, I know. I know. It's a thing that is possible. It's honestly like three nights a week for like six weeks and you're there. This is my butane torch of welding. I don't even think you need.

I mean, because Rob, I think you're saying to weld well. I don't think it would take that long to weld at all. I just think that would be a really good job. God, I really want to give him like, what's a. fucking mundane welding item like what's that what's that face shield a welding master yeah this is your visor

plus one visor of welding you know it's just a mundane it gives your player the motivation to learn how to weld but going back to your comment you could learn and learn and learn but you can also learn things that you can apply too right so it's not just about it's not just about reading and learning it's also about learning and doing

knowledge is power I don't know if you've heard that before yeah I don't know that that's very good rob what i mean to say though is if there's a large box of all the things that you want to learn Alex and i would imagine it's very large your magic ability is i want to learn those all instantly well then that box is empty you know it's it was quickly and high retention his curiosity is endless but that's and that that's why i counter my own point because i knew it'd be like well my curiosity will never end it's like nah to me i would love that ability but then i would be like burst through everything in a week and then i'd get to apply it but my magic ability is no

are being used. Sure. Well, that's why it should be an item because then you can pass it on. Now, that would be a boon because you could hand it to, you could great gift. We could trade these. Great Christmas item. But it looks like a dunce cap. And so every time you're wearing it, you can know everything, but you've just got a big

dunce cap on it. It has a sticker on this property of Rob. No, it's even worse. It's something more embarrassing. No, it's, it's, you know what it is? It's truck nuts. Oh, no. You have to.

If you want to be welding, it's true. wear them as earrings or on the chain around your net these trucknuts will make you want to weld go forth my son that is the most ridiculous shit i've ever seen by the way that's what i'm saying those truck nuts are so ridiculous you have to oh i love they're so good i know what i'm getting you for christmas the most popular man in a very particular crowd it would probably be like a cape you know yeah but the funny part is that it's terrible because like no one wants that you'd be like I have a gift for you you'll be able to learn everything instantly

and you're like thank you like these truck nuts and you can't hang them from your truck for at least three years can I just have them in my house in a closet? No no no no I gotta be on display

everyone must see if you take them off you're just serve her fresh I love the idea that you don't actually have to do that but the person is just fucking with you you're like oh no you gotta use them totally

I have to admit I'd probably just end up panicking and just pick that dagger that Marie has that makes the flowers because I can just because I always want cut flowers in my apartment and I never get them and so mostly because I just like never think

about it and then I'm out and I'm like should I get them and I'm like nah another time and then I never buy them so then I could just always have flowers you know what here's another great magic trick that you can do right now Alex what you do is you start making guilty comments towards Andy like

about how you never get flowers and I'll tell you what it's like magic all of a sudden you're going to have cut flowers all over the place once a month at least Hang on a second Andy, could you go get me some flowers? Oh, fail. I hope your microphone picked up the no

as clearly as it came through for us. You'll magnify it. He succeeded on his saving throw. Against persuasion. Charm. Passive aggressive manipulation fails. Or Andy actually has he's got a, fuck.

When you know, when you, when you don't include this when you edit it make me sound good I always do only for you though not the rest of us I make you sound worse he's got a legendary ability where he's always going to be able to choose to succeed against Alex

you know what don't even this is dumb don't well now it has to stay now the whole thing is in and there's nothing you can do about it it's the who wants that ability Andy or Harlan Andy both buddy.

Arlen. Should we go play a game where you guys have real magic items? I mean, fake, real fake real magic items? Let's do it. You're going to let us choose? Yeah, let's play some D&D.

Woo! Yeah. Ow! Yay. You're in the middle of heated combat deep underground, having found yourselves faced with dragon cultists worshipping the great worm clarion.

Your rock gnome traveling companion won Elister Noggins. was just turned to ice and shattered to pieces on the ground. Another NPC misadventured by your party and by not having been given death saving throws by the GM. The icy blast rocks those surrounding Alistair as well. However, silence is still in effect. The rest of you take 18 cold, so nine cold damage as you save successfully.

Alistair! Dorn turns around in the veil of silence and screams, no but his mouth just opens and you don't hear anything red even though he's invisible does call out but he doesn't worry because no one from inside the silence can hear him striking ellister off of my turn tracker here putting a little skull beside his name oh man that sucks yeah feel bad i do i still don't like him but i feel bad top of the order jack page jack is screaming his lungs off into the nothingness of this silence as he is frantically searching around

to find the last scraps of the man who terrified him a second ago. Am I still frightened of the corpse or does that go away when they die? Oh, that's a good point. No, you're fine. Regaining just enough of my senses to look down and see the ice cubes

at my feet that were a moment a friendly, an overly friendly gnome screaming some more in the silence. Just reflexively, I reach out with my mind and try and toss the, um, the cultist standing at the edge of the maelstrom back inside it. Can you make a strength saving throw as, as I take a bonus action to shove them with my mind? That's 11.

That's not going to do it. He can go back in the maelstrom, please. Pugh. Push. Then as my action, I reach out with my other hand and just from the ground below, a wall of stone raises up, almost like a door coming up, perfectly carved, dwarven stone. filling five feet between Mari and this dragon

to try and give us a little bit of breathing room. Essentially locking me in the room. Doran, you're on your own, bye, everyone. Have fun. Cool, sounds great. Awesome, so there's a wall there. And then I carefully not stepping on Elister, definitely trying to get away from these bits,

kind of back myself out of this room until I'm standing alone, I think. in the hallway behind me just looking for a place to scream a little bit Let's have a little meltdown That dragon's gonna fucking kill us Oh shit

Don't worry buddy Like a voice comes out of the invisible darkness Beside you Oh I'll take them down Okay Oh it's me red The tabaxi that you travel I know who you're

I'm invisible right now Okay good That's good yeah okay Yep yeah that's all Mari it's your turn Having witnessed Alistair just shatter into all these pieces. It's just this look of horror on her face. And she can't hear anything.

She can't, she can barely tell what's going on. And it just feels overwhelming. But I guess that thing's still flying in front of me, right? That dragon. Dragon's flying. I'm going to cast guiding bolt. Guiding bolt. It's a verbal somatic components.

Is it? you fucked. Sorry. God damn it. Don't blame me. I will blame you. Why? Because you're the one who...

Save everybody, you're welcome. You're welcome. All my stuff is verb. Oh my God, everything is verbal. Yeah, I have two spells without verbal components. Mage hand, minor illusion, and molderth. Just step out of the... Step over Alistair out of the silence.

Yeah. Yeah, so Mari takes off... trying to get out of this conno cell. As she does, she scoops up just a piece of Elster, like a finger on the ground and crams it in her pocket and hopes no one else saw this. Red saw all of that.

He's like, what the fuck? So this dragon is not going to take an opportunity attack against you because it cannot see you. So you are good. So yeah, I'm going to run out there and then I'm going to I think use Starryform.

Nice. Starry Form. Can't bring him back, though. Not in Starryform, I can't. But, um, but, uh. The power of stars. The power. I scrape you off the floor.

Look, man, she is. I thought you moved because verbal components, but stariform is not verbal. But then at least I have, I can at least. Yeah, but you're like, I can't do anything. But then I can't do anything. But then I can't switch between stuff now. I think it's a smart call. Yeah.

I'm just saying it's funny because you're like, I have no nonverbal things. And then you. run out so you can talk, and then you don't use one that needs verbal. He's like, hey, and then you turn into a dragon. All right, Mari, so you escape the sphere of silence. As she leaves and sees Jack standing there, and Red's just gone. She doesn't know where he went. She's like, what the hell?

She casts starry form, and the form of the dragon slides down onto, like, over her body, and she's now also got these, like, constellation wings and this glittering form that sits across her. Nice. Sick. Cultist's turns. There's one that has been pushed back within the maelstrom.

So am I making another strength check for you? Yes, you are. That's D's an 18. I believe that does save. All right. And Red, you're visible now, is that correct? Not until my turn starts.

Ah, cool. This guy flies to the edge of this maelstrom and because he is unable to speak, is not able to cast spells, unfortunately. Oh, that's so unfortunate. Instead, he's just going to use his... Slap. Sloppers only.

His breath weapon, essentially. Doran, this creature opens his mouth and a cone of cold comes out. Orrne's like, gross, pee you! But you can't hear that. You can't hear that either. You can't hear that either. Make a dexterity saving throw.

It's going to be a dexterity. That's going to be a 19. Yeah, you're good. But I still take something, I think. You do take some damage, yes. Six. You take six cold damage. So another cultist just, boom, flies through the maelstrom into this aggregate of dudes. One, two, three, four of them all piled up. And he is still in silence, unfortunately.

so he's going to they don't have a ton of actions is the thing it's all spells I know it's almost like my idea was fucking genius I guess he's going to dash so he'll fly over his friends and this dude is going to fly right out through the silence

out the other side and comes sort of into melee range with Mari and Jack disgusting the hell away from me all right it's the leader's turn. He's going to move underneath his companion. And then I think also probably his prophetic

tactic doesn't work. It says that the cult leader directs one of his followers within 30 feet to take an action on his turn. It doesn't say specifically uses his voice, but I think it's pretty much implied that you're like speaking to your dudes, right? You're like, go get him. That would be unless his hand signals. Knowing looks. That's our thing. Cultists can't have that. Don't let them take this from us. Put it this way. If we were talking about commander's strike,

like it's a similar kind of ability. I think it probably relies on someone being able to verbally command someone else to do something. Honestly, I feel like you could rule it either way because he could slap him on the shoulder and point and shoot and be like, do that. Yeah. I think the cult leader is going to try to scramble up the stone wall. Does that cause disbelief?

or does it exist until he no longer believes that it exists? For him who's touched it, physical interacting with the object reveals its illusion because things can pass through it. Surprise, the wall's an illusion. Cool. So the cult leader moves underneath his wormling friend and then tries to climb the wall beside him.

Interacting with the wall, he does kind of like a stumble and realizes that it's not there. However, in moving out of its space, Doren, you're able to take an opportunity attack if you so elect. Which he does. Nah, don't. Do it. Fuck this guy up.

Man, it's a 13. I misread it at first. That's going to be a 23 to hit. I thought it was a crit. 23 to hit doing 12 points of damage. Nice. Nice. And then he moves on through past you after he gets chopped good in his shoulder blade.

Take that. You. Coming. Out of the sphere of silence on the other side directly beside one of his cultists, he does end up touching the cultist's shoulder and whispering in his ear something terrible. The cultist turns to look at the two of you, I suppose, not seeing red. Turning to Mari, he casts a spell. You have to make a constitution saving through Omari as he extends his hands and freezing

cold blasts erupt from his fingertips at you. These boys love ice. They love ice. Yeah, ice boys. The cold is ice, willing to sacrifice. Murray has like some ice knowledge, so this is, she feels it being turned back. I feel like this is karmic for threatening to freeze Doren earlier. But I rolled a 22.

Yeah, you're good. So you take only six damage. Red, it's your turn. Red pops into existence. His invisibility now worn off completely. Whoa. Hey! And I'm going to fire at the flying cultist in front of Doren past the ones that are currently harassing us and at my friends.

And I am going to fire with a bursting arrow. Yeah, the arrow like skins by my face. Yes. It detonates after I attack and immediately after it hits the creature, the target and all of the creatures within 10 feet of it take, oh, you're going to take some damage. Don't do it then. Well, all right, roll to hit. Fine, go for it.

I don't care. Yeah, you'll be fine. You'll be fine. Take a little bit of damage. 2D6 is nothing. Use you, judge. If it makes it a little better, Alex, I can switch back into a chalice form afterwards

because I can get like a really boost. Thanks, Alex. You're welcome. Roll to hit. I'm going to use my inspiration. Inspiration. 18 to hit. You do hit.

Excellent. That is going to. to be 26 damage. He's dead, Harlan. You've killed him. As he blows up. And the dragon wormling next to him also takes five force damage. As well as you, Doran.

Okay. Sorry, Doran. This exploding body just vanishes before you. This is, I think, the chunkiest fight we've had. It's lots of chunks. Yeah, there are lots of physical chunks, yes. Doran, like, you know, and he gets knocked, and he's like, what the fuck? And he gives you this look.

It's like, it's red. And Red gives you a thumbs up back. Like, don't worry, buddy. Got you covered. Red uses his bonus action to dash back, spins on his heels, and fires once again at the one in front of my friend Jack and Mari. Unfortunately, I don't have my inspiration anymore. Do you want mine? No, that's all right, unless you really want me to kill this guy.

It would be nice. Sure, I'll take your inspiration. Oh, wait, no, actually, sorry, I used it a while ago. You fucker. Oh, that's not bad, though. That's an 18 plus 24 hit. Yeah, you hit. Excellent.

27 damage. Whoa. Yeah, you kill him. Wow, nice. Great job. You drop him. He was flying. Now he's not flying anymore.

Great job. Doran, it's your turn. Doran steps forward and makes a very quick attack against the wormling. You're fucking kidding me. Oh, re-roll. Poor dice. It's a total fail. How many?

Are you using all your luck in this combat? Yeah, I am. Cool. I'm not, I'm not accepting it. Don't forget, you can make Joe's attacks to reroute, too. I always forget that. Right. Well, now I can't.

Because I've used the real luck. Oh, no. 19 to hit. You do. Nice. Doing five points of damage. Seriously? Hmm.

Your axe slides. off of the dragon scales. Should I use my advantage on this one? My inspiration. Yeah. Use it or lose it, guys. Okay, I'm using it. Do it.

It's going to be another 19 to hit. Nice. That's going to be 10 more points of damage. Excellent. Nice. Great job. As Dorn cleaves into this dragon. We'll call it there.

Lots of fun. All right, good night, guys. Go on. I've had a good time. I think I'm good. I'm good. I don't know. I would love it, we'll call it there, and then the credits roll.

That's silly, but delights me. Yeah, Doran, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this wormling fights back against your terrible flurry of blows. Oh. It opens its maw and exhales a gas. Mm. Roll a constitution saving throw. Is it poisonous? It's not.

Well, there's a plus, maybe. Nobody wants to breathe a poisonous gas. Yeah, I mean, it's, I'm sure it's just like a potpourri. That's, uh, it's gonna be fine. 17. Oh, yeah, you're fine. Never mind. Nice.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, this, this noxious fume rolls over you and you just like hold your breath really good for a second. It's fine. Dora like burps and he's like, oh, nothing I'm not used to. That's the best you got. I'll give you. I've brushed my teeth in six years. Oh, no.

Good stuff. Jack, top of the round. Can the leader of the. opposition party make a strength-saving throw. It sounds like a fucking debate. The opposition party. Oh, 17?

Jack pulls out Desan's wand and tries to summon all the regular alchemical jazz. He's very used to having at his fingertips, and exactly as he imagines, daggers appear all around him and fly straight towards this cult leader in front of us. And rather than

strike him, they just stop right in front of him, moving him nowhere, and hover there in the air, and Jack looks very confused at his scarred up hands. Whoa. Before running away. Jack. It was magic missile?

Oh, my God. He was trying to magic missile. Trust me. Oh, that's awesome. Very cool. Inspiration. Yeah, do you have inspiration? I do, yeah, but Red doesn't.

Do you want to give it to someone else? Yeah, I mean, there's a real panic in Jack's eyes as he comes looking right at red, and maybe we lock eyes, and there's that flash from the first infernal puzzle cube that rings between us. Yeah. that might inspire Red to take some action. And you see Red, and it's like not, it's never a look you've seen from Red before. It's not like judgment or annoyance or even like envy. It's like a genuine like, oh no, like a genuine worry.

And it almost bothers you how much Red looks upset at like what just happened. Oh, the sincerity is like strange. Yeah, it's like a weird level of sincerity from Red where it's always like a joke or something like that. And all of a sudden Red's kind of like, oh no, like really worried for you. It's like the same look you had when Elster just died. Thank you for the inspiration. You're welcome. Mari, what do you do?

Mari watches this, and she sees all these daggers hanging in the air, and she sort of sees the look on Jack's face as he backs off. And, again, this feeling of the magic being wrong that she sort of sensed earlier, that something's wrong with Jack, and that something is off. And she's so confused and concerned, but turns, back to this cult leader who's standing there, and I guess he's also just mostly looking very confused. And before she does anything, she snaps her fingers and the form of the dragon turns into the form of the archer on her body. Cool. Nice. When she does that, the wings of the dragon, the

constellation wings fold around her and then drift down and form into a cloak. And now in her hand, she's holding a bow. Cool. And an arrow. Before I do anything with that, I want to cast frostbite on this guy? Sure. Can you give me a Constitution saving throw, please? Yep. Seven. That does not save, so you are going to take nine cold damage,

and you have a disadvantage on the next weapon attack roll you make. Cool. If you got a weapon, which you don't. Does he look affected by the cold damage? He doesn't look super affected by that damage. Oh, oh. Damn. Does he look healed?

Yeah, he looks so happy now. He's like, he actually... Oh, my God. No, but honestly. No, he didn't, doesn't get healed. Well, it sounds like necrotic damage, he looks really smug about it. But I am going to also use my bonus action to hit him with a fucking arrow. Great, yeah.

So then you hit him with a fucking arrow. I rolled a 16. Yeah, you just hit. Nice. Hey! 12 points of damage. Excellent. Well done.

Yeah, so Mari pulls the arrow back and just releases and it just slams into this guy. Nice. Nice. Mari, you watch as the cult leader just gets fucking furious. His face flushes with rage. He pulls his cudgel off of his belt, and he starts to try to just mash you up with it. He doesn't have any followers anymore. And he starts screaming as he's wielding this mace.

And he's like, Clarian's wrath will see you dead. Nice. 15 to hit you. That just hits. Nice. I mean, sorry. No, you're not.

You take seven bludging damage and 10 force damage. Then he reels back to hit you again with the mace. You insolent fools, you are fighting with forces that you can't understand. He misses you with an 11. Yeah, Murray's just trying to duck out of the way at this point. She's just kind of crawling backwards into the wall. And he's following you. He's like trying to almost herd you up against the wall.

As he steps through the swarm of daggers, they become illusions to him as well. Okay. And make a constitution saving throw for your maelstrom, I guess. Oh, yeah. I rolled a seven. Oh. As the maelstrom dissolves and the water sluces off the bridge into the lava, causing more steam. anyone who can see the bridge is able to spot these crystalline shards of stone where the egg should

have been. Red, it's your turn. Redd dismisses the silence. As a bonus action, he's going to cast Hunter's mark on this lone standing master in front of Mari, even though I know the wormling is still active. And I'm going to fire. Oh, 11 to hit? Miss. I'll fire again. That's a bit better. 17 hit. Hit.

Nice. 27 damage. Beautiful. Doran exclaims. We can finally hear Doran again. Science falls. He's just been screaming this whole time. Let's take them down, guys.

Time to squish this worm. Doran, it's your turn. And he doesn't hold back and he float attacks. Oh, now he does it. With a 23 to hit. Uh-huh. Was he pulling back the whole time? Doing 10 points of damage.

Just being lucky. And then again, attacking the same mother with a 25 to hit. Yes. And nine points damage. What does it look like when you kill this worm? Nice. The head comes clean on it, and it's wriggling there on the ground, and it's dorn says, Well, boys, looks like dragons on for dinner.

Ha ha. Oh, fuck. Yikes. Jack. Jack. Hand shaking around Desan's wand, steps out and takes a look back at where his magic missiles just hung in the air like a curtain. And as he's looking at them, they turn and dissolve into little tiny silver dragons themselves, each whispering in draconic. We know where the lost wormling is, and it just sort of sits there in a swarm behind him.

And Jack turns to red, like, I don't know why it's doing that. It's okay, buddy. It's okay. We all get performance anxiety. fucking Alice in Wonderland shit happening. That's very cool. That's crazy. Yeah. I love it. Mari, what do you do? She's just going to cast

Guiding Bolt because she doesn't know what else to do. Cool. And just needs to light this guy up. Light it up. 16? Yeah. Nice. Nice. 14 damage. Nice. Excellent. Good stuff. That's it.

I still can use that Archer thing too. Do it. Do it. Do it. That's exactly what you need to do. Yeah. I rolled an 18. Yes, you did, Marie. Not bad at all. That is 12 points of damage. Nice.

Mari, between the guiding bolt and your shining arrow, you take the cult leader to his knees. As he falls, he reaches out and grabs the hem of your coat, almost to try to pull himself back up on you. She's like kicking at him. She's just like, let go, let go. And with his dying breath, he said, You have brought down her full wrath.

In the quiet, the post-battle stillness, with the male strom gone and the silence dispelled, you hear a low grinding sound that makes every hair on your body stand on end coming from somewhere in the deep. We'll call it there. Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Adam Fry, Amanda Kitchener, Amy Gaza, Anne, Atholagoth,

Cecil Lee Wilson, Jerry Rose Anderson, Christopher, Colin Burckhart, Crow, Casey, D.S. Dippity, Elizabeth H, Flynn, Gareth Bradshaw, Haley, Haley again, Harper the Marks, Indrid Hartley, Jekyll, J.D., Joy Robinson, Jory, K.R., KM, Cade, Lazzania, Last Ruth on the left, Leader J, Lizzie Demon, Lorellivan, Matilda Rushing, Melinda Curley, Moon, Melissa, Merlin, Sam C, Reg, Reg, Reg, Regan, Ren, Ruth Ann Reed, Scotty, S. Ray 96, Tony Pepperoni, Zander Morning Dove, Zephyrus, and Zach House. Woo! Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Hello, darkness, my old home. I've come back when I once roamed. And the cultists they were bringing back. A stone dragon egg

To wreak havoc And Reds rovers They took them to their graves With lots of saves In the veil Of silence That's good Good job, Alex

Inspiration In absolute inspiration Yeah, good job Oh my God Here I thought you were just not fucking paying attention but you're writing no way man writing his prose great job excellent what about