Dice Shame - 2-7 | 'Coming Down With Something'

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

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

The one right in front of me. Do something. Jack, I swear to God, do something already. Hey, Red, do you want to lend me your advantage? Give it your all. I got you back, buddy. It sounds like Kalamari. It's very cool in his mind.

It's kind of fun, Red. Don't look at it. What's in there? I don't like it, one bit. Jack's in trouble. Stephen! But I'm hoping you're not dead. Oh, what the fuck.

Steven's a massive goat. We need to find Remy and get out of here. Mm-hmm. I'm like three episodes in and we already got to M-Preg? Yeah. We go hard over here, I guess. Welcome back to Dyshame. This is Season 2, Episode 7, coming down with something.

MVP this week is Diffjjjjjigv, who downloaded the Apple Podcasts app just to leave a review. They gave us a 10 out of 10. would recommend. Thank you so much. Extra Life is fast approaching. On November 5th, myself and Joe will be streaming for 24 straight hours. You can join us on our

YouTube channel, the Invictus Stream, along with a number of friends as we well, frankly, try to stay awake. Additionally, every Friday night, up until then, we'll be streaming spooky games where you can hang out with us and chat along. It's a great way to hang out with some friends and also donate when you can. We hope

to see you there on November 5th. The link to donate is in the show notes. Check them out. and also check out the content warnings for today's episode. It's a little gross. All right, should we do this? Yeah, let's do it. Deep in the dripping, smelly sewers of water deep, the parties found a terrifying monster layer.

After making the controversial decision to split the party, Jack and Red seemed to be in dire straits while Doran and Mari handle the northern approach. Red, it is your turn. Yeah, Red looks up at this big guy. Holy crap! And I, unfortunately, will have to spend my action disengaging. Sorry, you are grappled.

Yeah, you are grappled. I'm grappled? You are restrained. Yeah. How do we get out of the grapple? You can make a grappling check, basically, so that would be your acrobatics against my athletics. You can also wait, and I can shove you out of the grapple.

Let's do that, then. I'll drop below initiative, because I hate... I guess it does mean... I better not look at this thing and just don't look at it lose my shit I would argue that if you're looking at red who's five feet from the creature and is grappled by I really mean I got make my save yes oh yeah what if I cover its eyes could you throw your cloak over it hey what's on your robe do you got what's on your robe of useful items you got anything to cover this shit two dogs anybody who want two mastiffs just dogs action just oh man I'm

totally picturing you as Job from Arrested Development. Dogs, dogs. The knife in your mouth. Well, you're only restrained. You can still attack it. That's what I was thinking. I was like, how you could fight it. Red struggles with this creature.

And I am actually going to drop in initiative. I'm going to go after Jack before the creature because I'm hoping Jack can help me out. I like that. So you just kind of go limp in its arms and you're like, Jack, please. Jack, help me for fuck's sake. Listen to Mari, please. Jack, I swear to God, do something already. If you ran away again, I'm going to lose my shit.

Jack turns the corner and the wind blows just right and he's sheet of marble white because he's made of stone now and he pulls out, like there's that good cool, you know, Goodfellas music playing as he pulls out his wand with his mind. Well, then he sees this thing for once and his stomach turns and we'll see what happens. Does he barf a bunch of gravel? Well, we'll see. Let's see what happens. Make a wisdom save.

I'd love to. Hey, Redd, you want to lend me your advantage? Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Go for it. Hey, Jack, look, I know you and I have had our differences, but I'm going to fucking die if you don't save me, so we'll do something.

Pretty inspiring. 15. 15 saves exactly. Jack manages to keep his gravel in his stomach as he pushes Red away from this thing, pulling it out of the creature's arms and send him tumble into the floor, sort of five feet diagonally and then with the wand he's got it leveled at this thing's face and a firebolt shoots out okay roll to hit that's an 11 is there anything behind him that's flammable there's some wet straw that's not the most flammable thing traditionally it's covered in ooze you could steam it out

it sounds like calamari we could have a lovely meal and then jack sort of like police style, ducks back against the wall and gets around the corner. Holy style. I love A-Cab. Oh, yeah. A-Cab style. You know. What is this?

Copaganda? I just like, whenever Jack tactically retreats, in my mind, thinking about him doing it in the babiest way possible. When he did, he used to do a secret agent wand. Pugh. Page. Jack. Page, Jack, Paige, page, page, Jack.

Listen, he always pictures himself as the shadow thief of Waterdeep from those dumb books, Torin Lugs. It's very cool in his mind. Boops, boops. That's cool. Red, it is now your turn. Red scampers up and runs to the next room beside Mari. Holy crap, that thing in there. Don't look at it.

It's disgusting. Whoa, what did you two do? These guys are, well, I tried to, I stopped them. Quite literally. It's kind of fun, Red. Look. And Red pulls out his bow, and he, He closes his eyes and he fires.

At what? The creature in the room I just left, the big gross creature. So you go back around? No. Red is going to cast a seeking arrow. I grant the arrow the ability to seek out my target, allowing the arrow to curve and twist a path in search of its prey. When I use this, I don't make an attack roll. Instead, I choose a creature that I've seen in the past minute.

And it flies towards the creature around corners, if it's. necessary and ignoring cover. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, it has to make a dexterity saving throw. So Red closes his eyes, pulls back, and fires the arrow like towards Mari. What? If you hit me.

And as it flies towards you, it creans and like turns around and like bends around the room three times and then flies into the other room. She drops down instead of fear. And Red, you hear a wet thud as your arrow makes contact with this creature. I rolled up. Oh, nice. So it takes damage as if it were hit by the arrow plus an extra 1D6 force damage. Nice.

And I learned the target's current location, which I kind of already know. It's in the other room. I think it's in the other room, guys. You said it is not a humanoid? Correct. It's not a humanoid. It's a gumenoid.

And it just looks like, but it looks like a human. I like that, Alex. It is a gumenoid. Squamous. It's a gummin. It's obviously some tentacle creature inside of a human skin. It's a spice girl.

It's gooey spice. Has this thing been hurt before? No. Oh, wow. Yeah. We suck. You suck. You suck.

You suck. You suck. You fucking suck. I'm cool, okay. Shut up. I'm cool. You suck. You're a loser.

What happened to dice shame? Well, it just devolved into people like, no, you suck. And then the show ended. The end. On episode 153. It actually really worked Wait, what? Eight damage

Nice And I will attack again But this time To one of the people Across the room from me Sorry, Mary, don't be scared That's a seeking arrow It's just gonna go find the guy in the other room

What's in there? It's a big creepy monster Don't look at it It made me kind of want to touch it And it has tentacles in it And it smells real bad Good luck, Jack Which one of these was the one that Doren was heading?

The one right in front of me with the axe wounds, you know. I'll take it out, buddy. The one that's bleeding to death. Looks like a, he's like the shape of a Y. Just a hot dog. Yeah. Split on one end. The spider dogs?

Yeah, when you make little slices on the top. And I'm going to attack this creature in front of Doren. Do it. Do it now. Do it. It's going to be a 15 to hit. You hit? Hey.

There we go. But this shot goes close to Mari, and she's like, whatever, it's going to miss me. But it fucking doesn't. Are these humanoid? These are humanoid. In fact, they're humans. They're human boys. 26 damage.

I thought there was a girl in a boy. There is a girl in a boy. 26 damage. What does it look like when you kill the one that Doran's been hacking to bit? Doren's reeling back for another fight as the arrow just like comes through its eye, through the back of its head and like peeks out at Dora. Whoa. You inches from Doren's face.

And then he just. just sort of stands for a second and then crumbles down. I got your back, buddy. Hey. In the back of his head. Yeah, I was going to say, that was a bit like a magic trick. You know, the eye came poking out on me. Sorry, Mari.

Be careful. The one in the other room is real scary. Oh, don't look at it. Well, check out this one. He's standing still as well. Shoot a fish in a barrel. Jack, it's like a horror movie when this thing comes around the corner and down the corridor towards you.

It walks with a geloid gait. It seems that all the strength from its limbs are bent to support this massive writhing torso. And as it gets within five feet of you, it tries to grab your face with a tentacle. It's going to parasite your head. Don't grab you, Jack. Does a 26 hit you? Oh, no. It does.

Okay. You take 14 piercing damage. Ouch. As this creature draws you close, you smell its fetid breath. And as it opens its mouth against yours, these terrible lumps pass between the two of you. Oh, my God. Make a constitution safe. Can you please barf on it more?

Anybody else get inspiration they want to shout at me? I don't. You already took mine. I got nothing left to give. 14. A 14. Jack, you are unable to resist this impregnation. I'm like three episodes in and we already got to impreg.

Yeah. We go hard over here, I guess. We do go hard. And as the creature, releases you from its grasp you feel even more nauseated than before. I do. Oh, no. Wow, that's fucked.

Jack, how do you like that? I don't like it, one bit. And the only, like, solace is the stone of the skin stop some of the weird spikes from the tentacles and sort of smooths it down a little bit. But it's not... Oh, yeah, you're taking half damage. It doesn't go down easy. It's not good.

I don't like any of this. Gross. Oh, I forgot. You're supposed to take psychic damage, too. It feels very appropriate. Oh, that's only two psychic damage. So it's a very mild psychic badgering. All right, Mari, what do you do?

The whole two. I can't see Jack and the Thing. Jack and the nightmare thing are now out of sight. That's correct. However, you still think that the creature is in the next room. Right. But I know it's not. The creatures moved around towards Jack.

I know it's location. Remember? That's what my seeking. wouldn't know that. You know its location back then or it's new location. Oh, that's a good question. Because the arrow just seeks it doesn't tell you where it is. Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't tell you.

It's not like, um, you're right, you're right, yeah. Apple things that, um, stalkers use. An air tag. Yeah. Your arrows is an air tag. Yeah, I've got like a box of them for all the people I stock. It's a very millennial song. Your arrows like an air tag.

To my heart. What do you do, Mari? Uh, they're, we're on dry ground, right? We are. I mean, we're on slime ground. Yeah. Do you need water, Mary? I can get water.

No, that's fine. Red starts peeing himself. Oh, no. Gross. What? Oh, no, that's unrelated. Don't worry. I'm an animal, Mari.

Mari sees the person who's been basically ripped in half and then had his eyeball popped out. And then sees that the other guy is still stuck and standing there with Red and Doran. You hear a faint scream coming from between his parted. lips. Yeah, and she knows that Jack's probably a little screwed because this thing sounds awful. It sounds awful. It is. It is awful. Don't come around here. So she very tentatively comes around the corner, closing her eyes, and just very carefully like peeks out through her eyelashes trying to see and sees nothing. Nothing. There are two exits from this room, by the way, two southern exits. Oh, there are. Oh, my God. There are.

Oh, my God. Oh, this is probably the worst idea. She's going to help Jack. Yes. She's going to come down, at least to the entrance of that space where that thing is like fucking trying to eat him and raise its children. Mm-hmm. When you get to the southern half of the room, I think you can pretty clearly tell which corridor houses the terrifying monster, gravely injuring one of your friends. Yeah.

Oh, what the fuck. She can hear the sound of like weird, goopie. sounds and there's just like all these terrible noises and yeah she's she comes down the tunnel where that thing is just kind of keeping her eyes closed trying to just gently like peek out through her eyelashes do you look she just blindly casts um guiding bolts oh i don't think you need to see it to cast guiding bolt no you don't need to just a creature within range okay yeah i don't need to see it that's what makes the guiding bolt otherwise it just be a bolt come on baby come on give me something Good. I rolled a 16.

Wait, it's plus, three, plus eight. Excellent. Yes, four. Okay. I was like, that feels low. Wait, no, this doesn't have a plus eight. I roll 11 damage. Okay. Nice.

So, Mari comes around the corner. She just knows that, you know, it's obviously just a single sort of tunnel, or she's just kind of hoping that it is. And comes around, eyes closed, head back, and then just swings her arms out. and this giant beam of light comes out and just blows its way down this tunnel. Whatever it hits, it just covers it in glittering stars that just coat the whole thing and it starts to glow.

But she's not sure what it hit. But she could hear it hits something. Awesome. Doran, what happens next? Oh, man, that was great, Red. Mari, don't go too far. I'm going to take care of this guy. And Doran just steps in and starts hacking it the next Paralyse.

fella. Excellent. It's going to be a 16 to hit. Yep. Ah, good. Doing 18 points of damage. And then again. Oh, a natural 20.

Hey. There. Now you've got to be making a sound. Save that. Good. That's what we need. Alex Wu. But he gets one.

It is double damage, right? No, double the dice. Roll the damage dice twice. I'm going to crochet that for you. Oh, you have to. Right, right, right. So 12 plus. That's actually a funny gift of something.

Roll the damage dice twice. Pull in your fucking back. 21 points of damage. What does it look like when you kill this second creature? Oh, well, Doran's sort of in a hurry now because he's worried that like the inexperienced Mari is going to get herself into deeper trouble than she needs to be. So he splits this character in two nice and clean. Ah, it's two hits, but clean enough.

getting halfway and then all the rest of the way um come on red jack's in trouble i can sense it i'm right behind you and hear it my doran sense is tingling my brothers tell me so quit tingling quit tingling right now so doran you run towards where you hear jack's muffled screaming jack it's your turn. Yeah, that's horrifying. And Jack's going to, just almost instinctively feels himself pulling out all the stops. And he, when he kind of gets to himself, he finds the spellguard sphere in his hand, the chains wrapped around it with the holy symbol of lethander and the symbol of the Knights of the Eternal Order dangling from the chain. And as he grips it tight, it starts to glow. And soon it's surrounded by these seven glowing orbs.

of magic which spin faster and faster until he pours every ounce of juice he's got into these things and they slam into this creature in front of him. He's using a fifth level spell. He's using the extra first level spell, his last one to juice it all with a little bit of extra

damage, and he's just going to do everything it can to get rid of this thing in front of him. This is payback? That did bad stuff. Payback Jack. That's 106 damage when you add all the darts together. She turned into a pile of goo.

Not quite. What? Whoa. Yeah. But this creature is greatly injured and maybe a tentacle tears off. You clearly rebuff its advances. It's like speckling Mari with green oozy sploshiness. Yeah.

She's on the other side. Her eyes are still closed and she's going, Jack, I don't know what's happening, but you can please give me an update when you get the chance. Bless you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God bless you. Jack's like, oh, move. But I'm hoping you're not dead. I'm still alive.

Red, it's your turn. Oh, did you, I guess you're not going to leave this creature's side. You know what? I think I'm going to shove Mari back around the corner is what I'm going to do. You can't get double pregnant, but. But at this point, at this point, so Jack blasts the crap out of this thing with every magic missile he's got. And then with the last of his mental energy, he pushes Mari back around the corner, hopefully out of this thing's sight.

She just flails backwards, just eyes still closed. It's like a possession. Did he push you too? That's a third person he's pushed today. We've got to talk to him after this. I pushed all of you. I'm just my, I can't help but push you out. He's so.

He doesn't know. She doesn't know you did that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what he does when he's angry. Red, it's your turn. All right. We can't see this thing. I don't have any more special arrows, but I have a friend that can help.

Stephen! And, uh, Mari, you're. like standing against the wall and you see out of nowhere this goat walks out from like the shadowy corridor next to you this is the least weird thing that's happened today oh an animal thank christ this goat just like steps out and like looks up to you at like shrugs and continues walking past you like it doesn't give a fuck and it walks around towards the back of this creature and it's going to make two attacks at this creature behind Jack. It's probably glittering with the guiding bolt.

Yeah, it's still glittering. And Stephen's no humanoid, so we're good on that front. That was kind of my second. Stephen ain't no humanoid. So for its first attack? It's fabulous looking now. That's a natural 20. Hey, Adam!

So I'm going to roll my damage dice twice because I know how that works. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. 16 piercing damage. Excellent. And Stephen's going to reel back and attack again. Oh, Stephen buffets this creature, hunks of... David, David.

You can see flesh caught in his horns. 15 hit. You do not hit. Oh, damn. Sorry, Red. It attacks but misses the second time. Stephen just... And then looks towards Mari with a smile.

She makes a note to maybe make some flowers for the goat to eat later. Oh, the goat loves it and likes everybody. It's basically the... got the intelligence. Actually, it's much smarter than red. It's a much smarter version of red. Oh, no, it's just as dumb as red. Never mind. It is a super dumb version of red. So it's got the same dumbness. It just looks at you with the same dumb eyes that red has. I would have loved it though if like Jack cast 900 spells that they're all like super powerful and it doesn't kill it and a fucking goat walks over and just kills it. I was really hoping that that would

have been the case, but say love you. Could have happened if you had hit, unfortunately. The Creature turns around and wraps its tentacles around Stephen and tries to crush him to death. Bring it on, Stephen. Not interested in giving Stephen the kiss of life. That's a 25 to hit. That hits. The thing picks up Stephen. Red can't see, but he feels it.

Steven. Stephen takes 16 bludgeoning damage. Okay. Is Stephen dead? Stephen's not fucking dead. Are you kidding? Okay. Steven's a fucking raw.

Steven's a level three cast now. Are you kidding? He's not even bloody. Stephen is... Stephen's a massive goat. Stephen gets put down. He clomps twice, looks up the thing, and he's just more pissed off. I love that.

He's like, looking at this thing like, bring it on, you fucking dick. So, did it actually kill Stephen? No, Stephen's got 36 hit points. Cool. Stephen's going to get attacked by another tentacle, unfortunate. Oh, Stephen. Oh, that's the same to hit 25? Yeah, that's...

To tackle. Stephen... When you're attacked by a tentacle, 10 to tackle. 10 tackle. 10 tackle attack. 10. Tickles. 17 bludgeoning damage. Yeah, he's still fine. All right. Stephen gets dropped.

He spits blood on the ground, looks up towards the thing, and just comes like, bring it on. All right. He's got like one snapped horn. Oh, yeah. He's, he don't bow, don't know how. He's the one who taught red his stiff upper lip. That's awesome. He doesn't know how to say when.

Stephen and Red at the campfire at night being like, But Stephen, how do I know if I'm doing the right thing? You just... Ah! All right. You're so right, Stephen. Mari, it's your turn. Oh, no.

I can't see that thing, but... You just have to see it and win. I know. It's true. Do it. You've got a Stephen buffer between you. It's true. It's not like you can get any closer than that.

Well, not only that, it's a wisdom saving throw. Which you're good at. And you have a really high wisdom because your medicine was plus eight. So you have to have like at least a plus four. Or you're cheating. Well, then take the risk. Take, take. Oh, then you're great.

Take another look. Oh, damn it, why are all these, why don't I play such a tough pacifist character? Foyle! No, I'm kidding. I do love her. So she, uh, she can hear the sounds of this goat slamming into this disgusting thing. It's like a slurp noise. Oh, it's bad.

It is. And just more horrible, gooey sounds happening. There's like bits of stuff flying by when she looks down. there and uh but then she can hear something happening with the goat she goes and decides to cast guiding bolt again okay jumps around the corner just eyes closed and just goes sorry stephen i really hope this doesn't hit you and stephen turns over his shoulder looks at you with a no and nod like i'm okay to die my friend stephen took a level in badass last time because she's aware of that the the previous one didn't kill jack which feels better so maybe that will work again

That's a good sign. This bestial spirit is ready to die. It is so fucking strong. Do it. Strunk. Diding goat. I mean, I rolled a 15. No, that does not hit.

Leave the inspiration for next time when I'm smarter and think of it beforehand. Hey, I do the same thing all the time. Yeah. Doran, it's your turn. I'm coming, Jack. I turn to Mari and I say, Mari, take another shot. Give it your whole.

And I'm going to use my. commander's strike. Yes, Doran. Which is one of my combat superiority and what you're going to do, so hopefully a hit. Can I throw my dagger? Yeah, you can.

It's got range. It can end it. You immediately use your reaction to make a weapon attack. Okay. You throw it. Yeah, go for it. Now you use your inspiration, by the way.

Yes, now I use my inspiration. Like a smart person who knows the D&D. Take your shot again and this time make it count. She looks over to red and goes. Is the goat real? It's real to me, damn it! Oh, no. She looks back and she thinks,

that was not the answer I was hoping for, but okay. But you can shoot through him if it matters. She takes her dagger, and she winds back, and I rolled with inspiration to 16. Finally, thank you. A 16? Yes. Does that hit?

16 just hits. Nice. Yes. Thank goodness. She rears back. I'm just rolling 15s today. Insufficient. And it looks at the thing and hopes this is true and throws the dagger.

Oh my God, only four damage. You're going to add two. So six damage. Oh, six damage. Still not enough. But it's going to hang out in there for a while. That dagger is now going to start pushing shit out. Mari, you launch this dagger and it flies.

through the hallway, dripping petals as it goes. In barrel time. It embeds itself in the back of this creature's head, and out from the hilt of the dagger that's so firmly embedded in its skull, vines start to grow, and the creature wobbles once, wobbles twice, drops Stephen, and then collapses in a pile. Hey, nicely done. Hey, well done, Mary.

Your first kill and adventuring. Oh, that, I don't know how that felt. And it wasn't a human. Hey, hey, high five. Doran's just like, he's giving you a high fives, his hands up in the air. Oh, Jack, you're back there too. You should have helped. Jack is just solid like stone.

He looks like stone. He is stone-faced. He doesn't react. He is just barely. held together by a thin veneer of marble around him, and he's, uh, stumbling forward. Jack, you okay? You look like you're glowing. No, not okay. Is Remy here? Jack, as time goes by, you are starting to feel worse and worse. Almost like every time six seconds goes by, it's shittier for you. Is there anything I could deduce about my situation being

a pretty knowledgeable guy about things arcane and natural and historical? If I ever heard of anything like this? Is there anything I might know about what the fuck is happening to me? I mean, you know the basics about parasitology, essentially, that creatures can lay eggs inside of other living creatures and you probably don't want to be that thing when they hatch. And that diseases can be cured magically in this realm. If you want to know more, you can roll a nature check. I'd love to know how much time I got. What's wrong, Jack?

You're looking so weird. Jack, are you okay? Have I got any Tylenol in my healer's kit? Because I think that might help settle his tummy a bit. Tylenol? Or anything in my healer's kit. Yeah, it'd be Willow Bark. Well, that's what I meant.

It's just a brand name. It's just a brand name. 25. You don't have direct knowledge of this creature, but based on what you've seen of the other parent involved, you can expect a similar end if you are not cured within, let's say, 24 hours. Oh, so that was a pair.

What's going on, Jack? I'm not okay. We need to find Remy and get out of here. Oh. Can I, like, do a check on what that thing was, like what it was from its pile of guts that's on the ground? You would roll a nature check, but, Mari, I'm going to have you roll that with advantage, actually.

Okay. 16 again. You are not directly familiar with this creature, although you are familiar with its body type. I will say that because you are a water genasi, creatures that are of the water plane of existence or a relation thereof are more familiar to you because you are more intrinsically connected to those. In the water. Just hanging out. Mari peer through this thing with an expert kind of eye.

I think that's an ovipositor or something. It's some kind of parasite. Jack, are you sure you're okay? No, I'm definitely not okay. I don't think I got a lot of time. What do you mean? I've got a lot of time. What are you talking about? Red, we have to move.

We need to keep going. We either got to go back or we have to go forward, but we cannot stay here. We're going this way. And Doran's standing at the doorway and back in the other room, looking down the other hallways heading south. It must be.

Yeah, you look in, Doran, you bravely lead your companions into what is essentially a moldy pantry. Yeah, and Red pulls Mari aside and says in a hushed voice, what do you mean? What do you mean? We got to move. What's going on? I don't understand. It wasn't this way.

She looks over at Doran and just looks back at Red. I'm just... I got me. It was very good. Something... I don't... I think that thing might have gotten to him.

I don't know, and he's not saying that I don't know, but he's looking sweaty and not in the way that I normally am, in the way that's bad. You think that thing put something in Jack?

She looks over at the pile of giblets and looks at Jack who looks... like greasy rock at this point, you know, that that horrible sheen that sets in on things when sickness is setting in. Well, Doran, if it's not that way, there's another way this way. Yeah. Let's ice do we keep moving.

But we need to get him out of here. Oh, shit. Yeah. All right. And Doran kind of scuttles down while you two are chatting. He's next to Jack. Doran's scuttles. I'm imagining the camera shot.

You would just see like his head, like, bouncing along here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a Muppet. Back and forth. What do you think? Should we continue down the waterway? Or should we cross the bridge? Let's cross the bridge.

That's what I'm thinking, too. Oh, shit. Yeah, all right. Okay. And he continues on. Come on, Stephen. On the other side of the sewer line, across the bridge, the corridor opens into a long hall. To the south are three rooms, and to the north a wide entrance.

leads to another large chamber. At the far east of the hall, threadbare red curtains hang floor to ceiling. The curtains hang heavy and wet, as their bottoms are hanging into some water that has sluiced over the flagstone floor to the east. It's not clear where the water is coming from. Maui, Stephen is not looking good right now.

Can you heal him, please? He's like this spectral thing. Can you do cure wounds on a, a spectral goat. Cure goat. Do you have a spell cure goat? Goat binding. He's not feeling very well.

I don't have a spell to heal goat, but I jam the dagger up against a piece of rock and a couple of daisies fall out, and I feed them to Stephen. Oh, he loves that. Stephen's like eating them normally without any intelligent behind the eyes. Doren's entering the room first, I guess, leading the way.

And I'm going to peer to the right down to this bedroom. You could. Whatever it is. It is a small room just to the south of you. Apart from some moldy straw piled in one corner, this room seems empty. Okay. So Doren kind of continues into the room. Sort of putting himself out there, I guess, more as like bait.

Ready to get back out there, Dore. On the dating scene. He's angling some bait. Going on out to the baiting scene. Yeah. The second room to the south, Doren, you see another. pile of slimy straw but there's also a corpse in this room and and with each room that doran's discovering he's turning back to the rest of the party going wet straw more wet straw and a corpse and everything red hears at the

back he's whispering to stephen wet straw with more corpses stephen's just like dumbly looking back at him angrily and as i'm looking back i'm kind of making eye contact with the other party members jack marie and then Red, sort of to knowingly say, you know, cover my back in case anything fucking jumps out at me. Yeah, and Red pulls his bow out, getting ready to cover his back, if anything fucking jumps out at him. And so, to quote the Doran. Doran continues to the end of the room in the corner, looking down the last room. Straw. More straw.

Oh, straw. And then Doren turns to the rest of the party, pointing at the red curtain that he's now standing right next to. I know it's a gorgeous color. And Doren, your feet are in dark water now standing beside this red curtain. And he's making a little face of all things of all times. Jacks, looks down into this hallway with the corpse for any signs that. like, that could be him soon. Like, are these places where that thing is nesting people

and, you know, there are signs of infestation and, uh... Inspiration. Ah, game. That's... That's what you find down there. That's... You find a whole inspiration for yourself, Jack. Um, that is exactly what this seems like to you,

that these rooms could have been used for creatures like yourself. The corpse in the room that you are now looking into is a vision of potentially what your end could look like. It's a gory scene. There are holes in their abdomen, chest, and neck. And there are smears of blood all over the floor where you can imagine tadpoles, creatures, writhing free. Mari sort of comes over to Jack and just goes, you'd tell us if something was wrong, right? Right? Well, I'm pretty sure I've got less than 24 hours until I turn into that.

Right. 23 and 50. I'm usually faster at this. I think I'm feeling myself slowed down. 23 hours and 56 minutes. Red walks over and puts a hand on your shoulder and stands next to you in Maori. Has he got anything on him? And he squeezes past and he checks the corpse's pockets.

Yes, actually. A couple of mundane items. A small quill, a few copper pieces. a water skin, and a strange item that makes your eyes grow wide with recognition, a wooden coin painted with gold in the image of a goose. Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Alexander Ruku, Lost with Two Faces, Matilda Rushing, Lida, Chelsea Chong, K.R. Sky.

Creature. Regan. Michelle Conn. Heather Nichols. Alexander Reed. Melanie Schen. Artistic Witch. Brian Blas. Lars. Gray.

Brin. Daniel. Tara. Doug. Marri Canisky. Merlin. Christopher Ryan Evans. Mitchell Cadwell.

Colin Burkart. And Michael and Brianna Well. Thank you so much. Please make a wisdom save for me. Should I say that like I'm not a fucking robot? Yes. Make a wisdom save. Now do one where you're more of a robot.

Jack, please make a wisdom save. Beep Borp. Sleep bloop.