Dice Shame - 2-94 | 'Good Nature'

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

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.

I don't know. I don't know what to do. Like... Is growling out of us, Mari? Good luck, girl. You can do it. I believe. We're not here to harm you. I've never seen one before. We're worldly adventurers. If you get hit, you get turned right back into Doran.

You give me a reason to believe that you're someone that we can trust. I've seen hard winters, and there will be harder yet. Holy crap, it's really snowing out here. Welcome back to Dyshame. This is Season 2, Episode 94, Good Nature. MVP this week is Stormy. You've been nominated by your partner, Sunny. They wrote,

She listens to me talk about Dice Shame all the time, and your birthday was just a few weeks ago, so happy belated birthday. They also write, she's a huge nerd like me and a big fan. fan of D&D, always supporting me, and even plays in the campaigns on IDM. Well, thank you, Stormy. You're this week's MVP, and thank you, Sunny, for nominating them. All right, should we play some D&D?

Yeah, let's do it. Woo! So, I don't know if this is an intro discussion or not, but story time. I'm Dorn. Who do you play again? Are you a YouTuber now? Story time, story time. What's up, Ball, it's your Doran.

Come on and subscribe. Come on and peek. I want you to like and subscribe. What's up, ball? Here we are again. Back on Dice Shame. Here for your like, subscribe. Hit that bell.

Harlan's cringing so hard. So, I don't know why, but you know, the algorithms, you know. The Algorithms? I do know of them. I've heard of them. You sound so boomer right now. What of those Facebooks? I don't know.

I started to get a lot of like these recipe things on Instagram. Okay. So like, you know, like all these different kind of recipes, these, like, there's like a recipe things. A hundred different ways to like squash a potato and put bacon and meat in there. A hundred ways? I don't know. Just to squash the potato.

There's so many ways to squish a potato. It just seems like every day I'm like, oh, there's another one. And I ended up sending it to my wife. All potato related. I am being bombarded on all. sides by potatoes. No, they're not all potato-related. But there was some pizza ones, and this specific one that I'm going to tell you guys about

tonight was the broccoli-crusted pizza. Oroccoli or cauliflower. Broccoli. Was the pizza crust made of broccoli? Was it made of broccoli, or was broccoli infused into the crust? Made of broccoli. I like that we're all so shitty that we immediately jump on you and we're like, I need to know everything.

You like steam the broccoli, you chop it up, and then you need to. stick it in like a cheese cloth or like a towel or something and you like ring it out so it's like dry right so it's like this like thick broccoli fiber moment and then you add a couple eggs and like some cheese as well as some garlic and whatever and you spread out in the pan now on the positive side I will say that the actual crust worked out pretty well like I thought it was going to be folly a party wow so you tried it but it wasn't folly a party like it held Oh, Folly a party. I thought you said, I thought it was going to be fully a party.

Like, this is full on a party, guys. Crack those beers. Broccoli crust is out. Full on party. My next party. Broccoli crust, here we're saying. It definitely was not fully a party. It was very, like, tedious to actually do it.

Like, yeah, they'd chop it all up, you know, like, all these steps. And I mean, same sort of steps to make normal pizza dough. But, like, it fell flat on its face. and I'm like, this is bullshit. We ate half the pizza because we were hungry and I was like, I don't even want to eat this for lunch tomorrow. It takes a lot to make up anything pizza-shaped bullshit. That's for sure.

You ate it? Yeah, he had to. I thought you said you saw this video. Yeah. Well, no, I saw it and then I... You saw a video and then you made it. And I did. I made it tonight.

Yeah. So why were you inspired to make it in the first place if you thought the video was stupid? I thought the video was good. And I thought, oh, this is going to be cool. I thought you were ragging on the idiocy of like making a click-baity pizza crust And really you just like. I tried it. And you know what it tastes like.

It tastes like fucking crust made out of broccoli. Well, no shit, Alex. This reminds me of the vegan restaurant that I used to work at because it was also like a juice bar. And so people would come in for these freshly squeezed juices all the time, right? And being that it was all organic produce and everything, like the profit margins on restaurants are so low. So the owner was constantly trying to figure out how to. Take all of that pulp and food waste that comes out of fresh juicing machines and turn it into a product that you could sell because otherwise you're just throwing out like half of the produce that you're buying. And the number of fucking recipes that myself and the other cooks tried to come up with to use this flavorless vegetable and fruit fiber.

Well, take all the good stuff out of this. It's all gone. Then you have to try to like shove some goodness back. Back in, like, we tried to make it into crackers and crusts and loafs of thing. All of it, terrible. What was the seed of enjoyment from this, Alex? Like, why were you like, oh, we want to try that? Like, what was the selling point?

Well, honestly, you know, I don't know. How much you make pizza bad? Yeah, to push the limits of pizza. Like dough, dough for me sometimes is too much. Like, next time I'm going to make a dough. because if you make your own dough it's often lighter. There's like recipes

to make a lighter, crisper your dough. But I've ordered pizza and you know what? It was simply just to try it and if it worked, it would have been great. Even all about the cast iron pizza recently. Love a cast iron.

Really can't. Can't go wrong. Oh my God, I want pizza now. You know, normally I'd be on the pizza, but none of this is making me more piece of broccoli flour.

Wait for my next dinner party, Harlaner is going to be fucking broccoli and everything. It's going to be terrible. That's not a selling point. I know. I'm sick that day. It's an obligation, and you have it now.

I don't know. It was so disappointing. Like, I'm not that hard to please when it comes to food. Like, I can get past a lot. Are you doing a low-carb thing, or are you just curious? That's what this is. You bought into dad's religion. No.

You did buy into dad's religion. Oh, no. But I mean... Our dad has been on this, like, really fervent, religious kick in, like, carnivore diet. Like he is hardcore. He sends all this bullshit and it is his new religion. And for the same logic that people subscribe to religion when they're older, he's worried about dying.

This he thinks is going to help him survive longer. Therefore, it's the thing that he's going to latch on to. Which I'm totally fine with. But when you start texting people. Like religion, if you start sending us a thousand Christian posts. Hey, by the way, just FYI, if you follow God in your heart right now, you're going to be totally fine in the afterlife. Yeah, I tell my mom to not.

off that shit. That's what I mean. So it's like, you're talking to my great aunt, what is this? Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, you get to a certain age

and my dad is not religious, right? But he, I think everyone kind of is looking when they're older for something to be like, oh God, literally. How do I slow this down? I need something to hold on to. I get it.

But don't, you know, don't put it on to everyone else. We're blissfully ignorant of our own mortality right now. Yeah, we. They'll be dead. If you want the truth, the real tipping point for me,

and I'll be straight up. I always, we had ordered a pizza probably like two months ago. It was like two months ago. It was a standard domino's pizza. And I was also stoned. So I had like this cotton mouth. Okay.

And I remember eating this pizza and I'm just like chock like this. Blah, on the same gob of dough. And all I could think of is like, you know, like, why do we eat this? That's a bad pizza. Alex, those are high thoughts. So you get a stoner thought. And it ruined pizza.

But since then, I've been ordering thin crust because it's like much more tasty or trying different things. And honestly, I didn't mind the cauliflower crust. And I thought, hey, if we could do broccoli, it's good for us. It's good for the kids, you know? Children known broccoli lovers. Not at all. Terrible. Don't do it.

I'll try the cauliflower. Marine loves broccoli. She's into it. Broccoli is amazing. I do love broccoli. Don't try it for a piece. It's a dough. Rockley, it's great.

Doesn't work. I wouldn't. I don't think anyone here would, to be fair. Well, sorry. Nersal would do it. Only because you said it's disgusting. Norsal would be like, well, now I have to try that. That's just throwing the gauntlet down for Alex to try and make a good one now, right?

Like, that's the... Oh, no. Let's hear. Oh, what have you done? I'm going to try it. I'm going to try it. Well, pizza is one of the perfect, like, foods, and we all enjoy it because we're perfect. And I totally get getting bored of a certain type.

Like, we all. go through phases. Rob just said he's in the deep dish phase. You know, Alex is entering his thin crust phase for the first time. Oh, sorry, what did I say? Deep dish. Cast iron, whatever. My point is that there's many different phases of pizza we go through in our lives.

And Alex is on his, maybe I can make pizza healthy kick. And that's totally fine. You know what the reality is too, though, it was more so like, have you ever done like kale chips or anything like that? Like actually made some vegetables really fucking tasty? I thought that this was, this has parmesan. and mozzarella in it, I thought, hey, you know what? These are going to like really, it's going to come in this beautiful combination of like, you know, the broccoli and it's going to crisp up and it'll be all like crispy and green and cheesy.

High thoughts. The problem is when you squeeze out all the juices and flavor from most vegetables, they're just going to taste like the dirt ash version of the vegetables. Yeah, that's true too. Like Harlan put some raspberries in the dehydrator. You just taste it like sand. Sand berries taste it like sand. Sand berries taste. I like that's a sand berry.

But we do, you know, you always have to keep it interesting. Keep life interesting trying to fix, right? The more you change from a pizza, is it still a pizza? It's like the ship of Theseus. Once you change the crust and you change the cheese and you change the pepperoni, then all you got is a different meal all together. It's like this bad movie. You got to call it schmetza or something.

Thesia. Brocaleza. Broccoli. I think the pizza of Theseus is perfectly funny. The pizza of Theseus. If it's not broke, don't replace its pieces. Speaking of pizza. Should we play some Dungeons and Dragons?

Yeah, let's play some Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah. I mean, a good segue, sometimes you try something, it just doesn't work. Like this intro. Oh, sorry. Yeah, like this intro. Yeah, like this intro. Slap, harsh but fair.

As inclement weather blows over the Grey Peak Mountains, carpeting the boughs of trees in the foothills with a layer of snow, evening draws close, and we see Mari making their way through the close underbrush, having left the road behind long ago in favor of the safety of the woods. Mari, you haven't heard anything from your pursuers in a long time, though the memory of the trolls grasping claws and the eager shrillness of the Kobold's chatter, keep your feet moving.

Red, Jack, and Elister are as yet still missing. There's this horrible feeling. She keeps picturing in her head, seeing Red and Jack somewhere Linda Distance disappearing, seeing Elister lying on the ground as far as she knows dead. And she just keeps moving forward because all she can do at this point is get away from the people trying to chase them down and also try to find Jack and Red again. And every once in a while, she reaches down and she gently taps her pocket as if she's

checking for something. And this sort of creates a split moment in her mind. One is she's immediately thrown back in this sort of inner panic to when Elister died the first time and there was the finger in her pocket and there's this feeling in the pit of her stomach. But then it's immediately replaced by a reassurance because it's not a finger this time. It's Doran and he is still a flying squirrel. She stops to listen to see if she can hear anything. around her. The woods are quiet. She's listening around, and as the snow picks up, she reaches into her bag and wraps the scarf around her,

trying to sort of, like, hide even further into it. And, uh, and she, she pops, she pops a door in her pocket, and she tosses them on her shoulder. And she casts, speak with animals. Holy crap, it's really snowing out here. I can't believe you just saved me. This is. this is crazy i can't believe i went down back there you know if it wasn't for you i i might be dead right now yeah yeah i'm very aware i don't hear anything around at this point i think at the very least we're just kind of hidden i don't do you have any idea i don't i don't know i don't know what to do like have you okay number one thing is not to panic don't panic just relax he scampers across

your shoulders to the other side of your shoulders and he peers through the trees into the darkness of the night. I don't see them, but I'm sure they're out there. If I know Red and Jack, I'm sure they're fine. Alistair. Alistair, on the other hand. When I last saw him, he was down. Ah.

And I don't think he got back up. Well, there's nothing we can do about it anyway, so I think what we need to do now is try and find a space for us to stay warm and let the cobalds pass us by without any trace, and then we can try and reconnect with them. I know. And in the back of Mari's mind, she can hear Red back at Doreen's place,

basically being like, are you going to run? Are you going to stick this out? We're going into danger, be ready for it. And she knows she has to strengthen her resolve in this moment. She needs to stay strong, both for herself and for Doran and to find her way back to Jack and Red. Speaking of strengthening your resolve,

as the two of you stand in this wooded clearing, you begin to hear high-pitched speaking voices coming from the treetops, maybe 40 or 50 feet away from you. The trees begin to shake and rustle as creatures leaping from tree-top to tree-top head in your direction. in the dark. Do you hear that? And he leaps from your shoulder into the tree

and scampers up to the top of the tree. Whatever it is. You're leaving Mari to deal with him by herself. Good luck, girl. You can do it. I believe. You know that the second she dies that you're going to immediately fall out of that tree.

You'll be a dwarf in a tree. No, Doren scampers up the tree. Can I get into a position where I can see what's leaping from tree to tree? Yeah, roll a perception check. That's going to be a 19. Yeah, Doran, with your keen little flying squirrel eyes. In the top of this spruce tree, you spy maybe a handful of goblins that are leaping towards the clearing where Mari is now standing by herself.

So Doran leaps from the tree and glides down, landing back on Mari's shoulder. it's a couple of goblins let's make herself hidden yeah and she starts running back over to like the tree line the closest tree line

towards her trying to hide is there any sort of like rocks is there anything or is it just trees all of around her sure there's a rock there's a Mari-shaped boulder you can hide behind

with one squirrel on its shoulder you have to like contort yourself but you can just barely fit behind this rock I haven't got to use this yet but I'm attuned to that or

Oh, yeah, the meld with stone. The meld with stone. That's fun. And so she runs over, and as she approaches the rock, Doran, hide in the trees and stay safe. Mari, you leap into this stone and you dissolve into its face. As Doran, you make yourself scarce. Yeah, I look natural. In fact, I sit on a branch looking like a red squirrel.

Doing what I can. Bulging eyes. Drop your little hand on your little fist and start to whistle. He's like, don't mind me, just a squirrel. And he's got like a piece of beef jerky. You're like, what the fuck? You just start gnawing on the bark. Like, is this what squirrels do?

What are squirrels do? I've never seen one before. I already said she eats flies when she's an animal, so maybe I eat flies now. These goblins drop down into the clearing mere seconds after you are able to secret yourself within the flesh of this stone. And Doran, you are clung to a. Birch Branch watching the proceedings. These goblins are dressed in little more than the rags. They seem ill-suited to the cold and yet unbothered by it.

They are hurling pine cones at each other, rocks. They're jabbering at each other in high-pitched voices. You recognize goblin's speech, Doran. You speak goblin, do you know? Yes, I do. I was married to a goblin once. What? No.

So you recognize that their size is small, even for goblins. They're likely just a pack of kids, and they are calling each other shitty names. Their skin is wind-burned, rosy, and you see goose flesh prickling up all over them. They're cold, seemingly just making mischief for each other, until one of them spots you. A plump little squirrel sitting on a tree branch. pointing a finger at you. Doran looks at the goblin who points at him. And acting like a squirrel as much as he can

tries to look away and pretend that they're not pointing at him. But then he realizes that maybe they think he's food. A goblin child picks up a particularly heavy, spiky pine cone. and tries to nail you with it. Make a dexterity saving throw, please. It's going to be a 15? All right, yeah, you hop out of the way, nimbly on your squirrely foot. Not only do I hop out of the way nimbly,

I hop onto the goblin that threw the pine corner. I hop onto his chest. Whoa. And I start running around the goblin on his body, you know, like circling on his torso, scurrying around him. It's a baby goblin. I'm rolling an attack against you now, officially. If you could hit, you could turn right back into Doran.

And that's why I'm not too concerned. That's kind of awesome, actually, though. What's your AC as a squirrel? Like one? I don't know if there's stats for squirrels. The goblin child's friend reaches over and just slaps you, Doran, right off of the goblin. And as you fly through the air, you take two points of bludging damage. So you're still a flying squirrel for now.

Another goblin picks up another rock and chases you into the woods. Mari at this point slowly extricates herself from the back of the rock and tries to quietly scan around for Doran. Yeah, but meanwhile, Doran scales a tree, like, real quick. This goblin child scampers right up after you. They are agile. They were jumping from tree to tree mere moments ago. But then I leap.

And in a very flying squirrel style, I glide down. And I land on Mari's shoulder, yeah. Oh, God. Okay. Yeah, Mari, four pairs of yellow, green eyes that kind of reflect the light, cat-like, turn to you, and they start approaching these children. One of them pulls a rude face at you. She holds up a hand towards them, trying to keep a neutral face to sort of, like,

stop and she she spins the walking stick around so that it casts chaleli on it but she doesn't make any sort of like movement like like get back or anything she just sort of holds it basically just to show that there's like a little bit of magic happening two of the goblin children are like thrown back in like awe and fear and then the other two like show you pointed teeth and make terrible smiles at you. One of them tries to kind of come around the side that Doran is on, like almost reaches out a hand to pluck the squirrel off of your back. She stops her to puts a hand up to block it.

She doesn't know if they speak common or not, but she just goes, that's my friend, and puts her hand out to Doran to let him sort of run into her hand, basically just like, act like a familiar. I can speak goblin. And I can translate to you in animal speak. Oh, that's right. Speak with animals.

So I can, so why don't I try and do that? Whereas, like, I say the words to say, and you spit them out. Would you allow that, Joe? Yeah, I want you to roll a performance check for it, though, because of fun, possible misinterpretation moments. You're gawk, got, gawk, gawk. Stumble through a language, you know. Alex is going to have to roll the performance check. Yeah.

Because what you're going to say is, because I'm controlling the words, basically, is you're going to say, stop right now. I'm a powerful magician. I rolled a Nat 20. Hey. Awesome. As the words leave your lips, Marie, you see the goblin who was closest to use pupils grow small in fear. And Doran, in Goblin, you hear this child scream. Bear!

Bear! Bear! A lumbering shape grows large through the dusk, light as an adult brown bear charges towards you. It comes upon you unbelievably fast, rearing up on its hind legs and roaring furiously. The Goblin children cower behind it peeking out at you as it takes. to swipe at you, Mari. I leap from Mari's shoulder and I transform

mid-air and land on my feet as Doran between the bear and Mari. Yeah. Tell that bear to fuck off. And then, yeah. As he's doing that, Mari swings the staff back out

and to the bear, she just goes, stop. And the bear says, who are you? He's growling out of us, Mari. I am a druid in these woods. Leave now. Leave him, leave me.

Walk away. That's all I ask. The bear drops to all fours and cocks its head at you. And then, almost pushing aside Doran, walks over to you and takes a, good couple of sniffs of you, your hair, your clothes, and then begins to shrink.

Its hair falls off in clumps and blows away to nothing, revealing a half-elf man in the snow. He has a scraggly beard and he wears a heavy tunic coat and cloak almost entirely obscuring his physique. Though, like the goblins, his eyes flash yellow at you as he catches your gaze. What? What? A druid in these woods. Huh.

Yes. Who are you? I am Wolfram Gaspi. And I too am a druid of these woods and a follower of Silvanus. If you mean harm unto these children, I will defend them to the death. Harm. I don't want

to harm these children. I don't want to harm you either. You couldn't. And she just kind of gives a little shrug. Just like, sure, all right. Like, she's not trying to pick a fight at this point. Mm-hmm. We're only trying to find our friends. Doran says in Goblin speak to the children. Don't worry. We're not here to harm you. Do you speaky like we speaky? Yes, I do. And he almost like, it's almost like becomes like this sort of, Chummy, like, Doran all of a sudden feels some connection, being brought back to his days of spending time with goblins, you know.

All in a chorus, they all go, ah! The druid turns to you, Doran. You speak, goblin? He's full of surprises. Yes, we're worldly adventures. In fact, we were just run out of the inn down there. by some cultists. Doran.

Enough. Sorry. I like to perceive what his reaction is when I bring up the fact that we ran into cultus. Roll insight. On unnatural 20. Whoa. He doesn't seem surprised. But he's not a cultist based on the reaction.

I mean, he's not like, yeah, cool. Cultists are the best. I love those guys. Why are you in these woods? The trees speak of an unwelcome presence. Are you evil? No. We're trying to find our way out as well.

We're looking for our friends. We've been chased here. There are trolls. There are cobalds. And all we want is to get out. Yeah, do we? We were under attack, and I think one of our companions has been killed. All we were doing was seeking some shelter for the night.

Okay, yes. That's enough for now. Come with me, then. I have to get the children out of the cold. I agree. Follow. And he turns back into a bear and loaps off through the woods, the goblin children in hot pursuit. Dorn sort of shrugs and looks at Maring.

I guess we go. Let's go. You're led through the darkening woods by this rag-tag group. The druid ostensibly showing the way, but the little goblins seem familiar and energetic, and they swarm him like bees, jumping on his. furry back, dashing up ahead, running circles around his feet. After a time, you arrive at the druid's destination, a home, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with no road or path leading through the undergrowth.

The trees all around you brush your shoulders and the walls of the edifice at the same time. The home is strangely built, a patchwork of mud and stones, with a little sanctuary entrance made from gnarled old wood bleached white, from the sun. A little glow emanates from two tiny circular windows, and then you are ushered inside a door without hinges. A single piece of thick bark moved aside to reveal the interior and then dragged back into place once everyone enters. Inside, Wolfram retains his half-elf form again, and you are greeted with a very humble but well-lived-in home, comprised of two dark rooms lit only by the fire in a stone hearth and a taper candle. The first room where you

stand features a handful of pieces of furniture made from stripped cedar logs lashed together into benches and a table, some shelves holding tools and little sculptures and a rack drying herbs, fish fillets, animal skins. The second room appears to contain a raised bedding platform and some more personal effects. As Wolfram shakes snow out of his hair and the little goblins gather by the fire

to warm themselves, you take it all in. Do you live here with them? The goblins came to me a ten day ago, all wild-eyed and quaking and sick from hunger. As soon as I fed them, they haven't left my side.

Interesting. There's so little. They're young. I guess so. I don't have much experience with goblin folk. They usually don't pay me much mind, I suppose. I have few friends and fewer enemies. A druid of Silvanus needs neither company nor assistance, and I do not tolerate evil. He looks again at the two of you suspiciously.

I am a protector and instructor of the forest, and you said you were a druid as well. Mari reaches up and she sort of puts a hand or a chest and she goes, druid of El Daff to protect the waters. I have no interest in harming you or these goblin children or anyone, but it seems like there's a lot of danger out there in these woods. A druid of Eldath. He gestures at your starry form and your glowing staff. These are not her.

standard utilities no I have found bits and pieces of my own path that have guided me and kept me safe and kept my friends safe and she gestures to Doran

who I like to imagine is like sitting there and like there's like goblin kids crawling on them yeah so the the goblins are just like making a nest out of Doran basically Oh, and Doran's milk in it. He loves it. From my understanding, and perhaps I am wrong about Eldath, but hers is the way of the healing waters, the silence, the peace.

Yeah. And yet you carry weapons, make companions with warriors. My path has taken. forks I did not expect. I set off from my home far from here to seek her and to find answers for some questions that I had, some concerns that I could not find in my own home. And what concerns are those? I lost some people close to me. And there was doubt in my mind. Of your God? of myself and where I fit in with her and her plan in the waters. You are seeking then.

Yes. I have been seeking and I have been walking and I have been hoping to find answers. You are lost. Yes. But paths are... Paths are never straight. They always wind, they always twist. The water always moves.

It must move or else you drown. And I have come across others who, maybe if they don't give me some guidance on this past, then maybe they at least give me some peace for a bit, some respite. These, others, and he nods at Doren. at Doran. Him and two others who I can only hope are okay. These children, they're the first company that I have had in perhaps all my life that I can even tolerate. They are entirely

themselves, wild, forthright. I will keep them safe until they choose to leave. It's good to find others at some point. I think that is something that I've learned in my time on my own and in my time finding a space within a new group. And my only goal at this point is to make it back to them. Whether we leave this forest or whether we keep going forward, I can't tell you, but my goal is to find my friends again. Doran's playfulness with the Goblin children had continued as they traversed to the druid's home. And perhaps the look on the druid's face wasn't so much of a concern

for whether Dorn is evil or good. Rather, how he has the patience to put up with not only one, but three rowdy goblin children. And listening to now to the conversation between Mari and our newfound acquaintance. You give me a reason to believe

that you're someone that we could trust. But I fear that laying out our plants bluntly, will only put us into a worse position. How do we know we can trust you? I am only myself. And if you care to trust me, that is your business. I plant the new seeds.

I train the new saplings. I kill foresters. I eradicate pestilence. I burn fences. I sing to the seasons. These are my jobs. If you trust a man who is devoted to the earth, then that is for you. Doran, you are being mobbed by these goblin children.

They're all speaking on top of each other, trying to be the first to tell you the best parts of the story of what happened to them and why they're here. The big smelly dragon kindlings come in a cavern and wreck the home fight. The troll can outside here and eat the big gobbies. I haven't been able to understand them since they came to me. What are they telling you? They're talking about a dragon coming into their home and burning up a bunch of stuff.

But, and now Doran takes a glance over at Mari, unsure as to what he should divulge about Clarion and their mission of... Doran, what did the kids say about the dragon? And maybe Doran then turns to the children in Goblinsby. He says, uh, well, tell me again, what about this dragon? No, the little ones, the dragon keelings. Oh, oh. So small. Ah.

Terrible. We hide in a tree. Yeah, they're talking about dragon wormlings, nothing. And again, he glances at Mari in sort of a questionable look and then continues his sentence. Well, we were seeking Clarion. Does that name mean anything to you? Wolfram nods

kind of with a faraway look in his eye I know that there is a dragon Not of these woods But yes Murray you'll probably agree with me I think our biggest concern right now Is finding our companions We're not even sure if one survived

We're looking for Another half elf and a tabaxi With clipped eards The little goblin and children are, like, picking at your sleeve now, Doran, and, like, pinching you to get your attention. Tell him our names. Tell him our names. Oh. Tell him we love him. Um, yeah. Ask him if we can stay here forever. Children, children, please, give the adults a few minutes to speak. And when we have some more time, I, I assure you, I will, I will convey everything you're telling me.

Tell him he out Buffy now. right, all right. They're hungry and they want you to know their names and they're very, very appreciative of your help. If we found a way to get the dragon out of this area, would that be an issue to you? I know that you stand with nature and Mari reaches onto her belt and she takes the flower knife off and she drags it down her. staff and little like petals, little tiny daisies and stuff

kind of erupt from the cut and drift down and she puts it back on her belt. He snorts at the display. I have no issue with the dragon. She is her own

creature near immortal as far as I know. The cobalds and trolls in the area. There are more than usual and working together. I mean, put two and two together.

There's something happening there. I am... I am responsible for this grove. And... As of yet, things are... Things are progressing. The squirrels are talking about the weather.

The thaw is coming early this year. That's interesting. Do you have any idea what might be causing them to be doing this? Do you have any inkling? No, but the grove is disquieted. Their roots are feeling it tremble in the rocks. Mari has this sort of drawback to thoughts of home, thoughts of being deep within nature, being within the small temple that she used to go to for

Eldath and that want to protect something, to protect your home, to protect your space, to keep these areas sacred, like creeps back in. And she goes, if we can, we'd like, I, at the very least would like to help save this space. It is special. It's special to you. It is, yes. But you have your own missions, your own paths, your own water, to tread and follow. And I have this grove. I have walked this path some 90 years. And I will continue to be its protector. I've seen hard winters and hard summers too and there will be harder yet ahead and I'm not afraid I think that's something I'm trying to learn how to do right now

you will when you have more seasons and perhaps more time to examine who you are I am very sorry I know you guys are deep in this conversation about your druidness. But how does this go back together? He holds it like a broken, like, pipe. It's like a flute that he sat on.

I made you a cutting board. Good pull, Rob. I'm sure you know the land here, like the back of your hand. Please help us find them. Maybe we can just shelter here for the evening. We will see. Dorn goes back to attending to the children and their questions and wanting to do them justice because obviously he understands now they're sort of like these orphaned kids and

he's got a bit of a soft spot for goblins they tell you their names are gran soot rig rig and cheese brains and that all they want is to make this man who they call bear fee their best friends slash new bear fee. It's hard to kind of understand because they have their own slang. It seems like these kids are probably siblings. But between the four of them, you sort of suss out that they want to stay here. And Doran would convey this to Wolfram. Do you think you can handle these many little guys around you?

Hmm. He just looks out of the tiny window at the storm. You begin to settle into your surroundings, gaining some comfort from the humble cottage, the smoldering fire, and even the wild chatter of the goblin children begins to stumble as they drowsily curl up together. It seems like you'll be able to safely rest here for the night. That is, until you hear the distinct sound of a goldfinch ring clearly on the wind.

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I like to imagine that Doran like there's this moment as this bear's coming towards her that Doran just out of instinct leaps from her and starts sailing towards her like as a squirrel but first leaves a couple of droplets on your shoulder oh my god come on man god I love I love the idea it's like whoa that scare me squirrel darn shit on Mari clean off the shoulder and