Dice Shame - 2-97 | 'Tell Tales'

Episode Date: July 4, 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.

It's really bothering me how we had to run away from that battle. I was so inspired. Oh no, I land on my feet, always. Do you have a god? Oh, I'm feeling right as rain. Oh, good. And like I said, I probably asked the wrong thing. Mari's eating the potato like it's an apple.

Yeah, look at all these conches we have. I have to bleed on that. Why is Dawn talking so quiet? I set out on this journey to see if I could find forgiveness. Wow. You're okay, right? I've got something to go do outside. Why don't you, uh, make breakfast. I'll be back in an hour or so.

Is he talking to us? Oh, yeah, sure. We'll just stay here and make you breakfast, Jack. Did he just give us an order to make him breakfast? Jesus Christ. Eat your rations. I love hash browns, though. Welcome back to Dice, Shame.

This is Season 2, Episode 97, Tell Tales. MVP this week is Lambda. Lambda's been hanging out with us on the Discord, and they've just started their Dyshame List, and they're on episode 39 of season one, and they've been enjoying it so far. Thank you so much for joining us, Lambda. You are this week's MVP. Looking for an awesome new book to read, Strangers on the Shore is a queer romantic thriller set in 1963, and follows a diverse cast of characters on a Mediterranean cruise that starts relaxing and ends deadly.

This book was written by our good friend, Ren Brooks. Check it out now on Amazon, Strangers on the Shore. It might just be your new favorite story. It's an amazing book. You absolutely have to check it out. All right. Shall we do this? Yeah.

Yeah, let's do it. Woo! So, So, doorbell rings. You go open the door. and you see a fairy, like a little fay creature, or a walrus, which one is going to surprise you more? Rob, I just pictured a boat just outside my house. I mean, if a boat rings your doorbell, we can add the third option there.

Yeah, I live in an apartment. I've got a full other set of questions then. What happened? Probably a walrus, to be honest. Yeah? I think one of the big questions would be, where do we live? Your house right now. I mean, don't say it.

Do I live on the ocean? At your house right now. Oh, he's pictured him in a lighthouse. No, I think a walrus would be more surprising. Yes. Because, like, I would assume naturally if a fairy was at my door that the fairies have just made themselves known now. I'd be like, oh, everyone found out today that fairies are real and this is just a normal thing.

Do not ask my name. That's a wild place to get in one second of seeing a crazy little critter. Yeah, well, I also wouldn't take six months to find out hiccups. Well, I guess. Okay. What flavor is the baby? I'm on it. I'm tapped in, Rob.

So how would a walrus get to my door and why does it want to talk to me? This is my question. This is my point, right? Did it knock or did I just open the door and just walrus? Your doorbell rang or whatever. Wait, hold on. The walrus rang the doorbell? Yes.

Because that would be almost more surprising than anything else. I mean, I could see a fairy, literally tinkerbell. She's ringing bells. I get it. But a walrus? That's a bell in her name. Walker would have had to slap it. Or poke it with a tusk.

How is this even a discussion? One is an animal. The other one isn't even real. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on now. What do you mean fairies aren't real? The one that's not even real to show up your door. Oh, Alex thinks walruses are real.

But, you know, like, sincerely, I can think of a few ways how a walrus might end up on your doorstep. How? How. They're being saved. And from the local river. the local river and it's like a you know there's like some wild explanations why some animals escape from the zoo yeah but i could think of another wild explanation why a fairy would be there fairies are real they are also escaped from a zoo listen we literally have lore that is a fairy comes to your house every time your kid loses a tooth

shows up right we have a story about that we tell kids that all the time we never say the walrus is coming to your house. But we should. Unless maybe the walrus is taking over for the tooth fairies. You guys have a baby. That kid does not know about tooth fairies yet. So you have the chance to have the tooth walrus become a thing. The tooth walrus. But I think I actually makes a lot more sense. I think the very reason you're pitching Alex, like the like the logic of it is why my brain finds it more obscure. Because like to me, when you ground all of this in reality, right? And you're like, okay, walruses. To get a walrus to my door.

That's weird, but my brain can be like, wow, the steps it must have taken. Versus a fairy, it's almost like, well, now nothing's real. Like, what the fuck? Like, everything is disconnected. Now, who cares? Let's do this. Yeah, and so I guess the question of that is which one of those is a better definition of surprised?

Did 500 coincidences have to happen? Or did you go, oh, I've seen something now nothing is real anymore and what the fuck? I don't even know if I'd be surprised. I think I'd be bewildered, maybe a little bit taken aback, maybe a little shocked. Hold on. No, what is the difference between? bewildered and surprised.

Harlan is very whimsical. There is no difference. Bewildered means you're very confused and cannot understand something or decide what you should do. I would say that's different than surprised. Surprised isn't like, I don't know what to do next, which is how I would feel with the fairy. I'd be like, okay, you know what I mean? All right. I'm doubling down on it.

I think I had it right. Sorry, Rob. I think it's a personal. Yeah, I don't think there's a right in a row. No, we're talking about bewildered surprise. There is a real answer to that. I agree the fairy thing is that one words mean things unfortunately apparently all I mean to say is like you know a birthday party doesn't bewilder me I do like the idea that surprise boom what the fuck here's my thought I can only cram one of them in a jar and it's the fairy so like I'm going to go like that one to me at least I could like take it down that walrus that thing could gore me like also I live in an apartment building I do like the idea that the wall Walrus had to get up the elevator to get to Nersal's.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. I love the idea that it rang the doorbell because it has to like buzz up. So I'm like sitting there and it's like flapping. It's like flippers against the thing. It rings me. I just buzz it up without thinking. I'm like, we have a package coming in.

You're one of those. Delivery, fresh fish. You know, but there is. Amazon's really stretching the limits of their employment. Delivery Walrus now? It's bringing me my hell of fresh box. I do think there's something to be said about like, grounding something in like reality and then that being like you know I can't remember there was a

story and I think it was also similarly nautical where people saw like a whale washed up on a place that there wasn't a whale and it you know it caused like you know not hysteria but and I don't want to double down on bewilderment well it's very confusing but the idea that people are like well I know this thing exists somewhere else how did it get here there's there's also a movie or something about like a free will or maybe it's you know what maybe it's lost the TV show where there's like a ship in the middle of the island and they're like well how did that get there and there's almost something more perplexing about like a 18th or a 16th century ship in the middle of the landlocked area versus you know something that's just kind of totally fantastical

because there's a way that you can touch touch grass about it imagine you met alligator people you're on to something I I think I would be more surprised by a fairy but I think it's beguiling in that, like, fairies are designed to be relatable to people. They're people-shaped-ish. They maybe speak a people-language. Like, the only weird thing about them is that they don't exist. Whereas a walrus is just a whole other context that you don't generally see them, and that is your front door.

They're very big, too. You could ask the fairy how it got there and what it wants, and you could, I mean, you could also ask the walrus. I guess I would also assume that the walrus hit. my door by mistake, and the fairy did it on purpose, too. This is very alien ghost alley, you know, where, like, I feel like I was in the alley and the ghost was there versus this alien fucking wants me. You know what?

The walrus made a mistake when it came to my door. Oh, sorry. I thought someone else lived here. I was looking for the ocean. You know, it's like wildlife. Like, you open the door and there's a moose in your backyard, and you're like, oh, shit, this thing just fucking walked through, you know? Where's my gun?

I think also, I want to say that, like, size had plays a part into, too, because if I see what if it's a giant fair? Ferry is going to be, like, small. But if I saw, like, a, like, a tiny, like, what are those little, like, itty-bitty, like, antelopes, like, dick-dicks or whatever? Like, if I saw one of those, I'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah. Like, I wouldn't be like, oh, my God. But a walrus is huge, so I'd be like, oh, shit.

Call the police. This walrus has got a vendetta. Oh, my God, it has a knife. It's come to kill your family. Yep, I'd be more surprised by Walrus. I can't wait for the party to take on a walrus that has a vendetta against her players. Oh, no. I think I'll answer your question with a question.

Oh, okay. The best way to do it. What is a walrus? What's a tier list? Did you go alligator people or a steam powered worship in your backyard? Like what would be more surprising? Sorry, wait, what? What?

Hold on. Can I go to what? Alligator people. Like an all. You look at your backyard and you see, and would you be more surprised to see, Alligator people Yeah Or like a steam powered worship

From the 1800 Are they made a chocolate? Probably alligator people Okay But you know By your own Definition You should technically be more surprised

By the I will be surprised By both of these things To be clear It will also be bewildered But the main difference is You said alligator people Right

If you told me there was like Gaggle of fairies or one walrus, I would be more surprised by the gagged. Because there's something going on. My question is this, can Rob fight the alligator person? Oh man, I'm going to watch.

How big are they? Are they a baby alligator person? Let's go. They have trouble opening their mouths, don't you know? Where else could we find alligator people, Joe? Right? Inferino. What?

Maybe possibly. You like how I said that with like a weird fantasy accent? Let's go visit there. There better be some damn alligator people when we get there. It's kind of like those cobalds in a way. They're like dragging the alligator people kind of. Let's play D&D. Yeah.

Yay. Yeah. Mari, Doran, Jack, and Red. You wake up in the farmhouse on the 22nd of Altruillac. It's cold in the main living space. Being that part of the roof is missing, and Elister is conspicuously absent. His presence perhaps missed keenly or else already forgotten, a matter of your character's opinion, I guess. Unfortunately, you have not gained the benefits of a long rest, considering that this is not a safe haven.

Does anyone else still feel sore? Very sore. Red calls from like the hayloft, I imagine it's kind of like a cabin area that we're sleeping in the house. But for some reason, I'm imagining it's like an open loft area. And red is like on the storage area above, just like with one arm hanging over the side. He rolls down it and falls to the ground. Oh, no, I land on my feet, always. I am catmiking that way, but only that way.

It's very red. Yep. Morning old. Mari found like an old cushion or something, and she spread her coat over that and has been awkwardly sleeping. Partly on that, partly on the floor. and no her back hurts. Jack did the very much sleep in a corner sitting up kind of thing halfway through like trying to describe this fancy scroll into his book

that he's got all laid out like a blanket. He's sort of crawling over the giant-sized text trying to get it compressed down into his own personal magic language and then sort of halfway through fell asleep and picked it up again a couple of times. So you're transcribing that scroll into your spellbook? I think so. Hey. Okay, how long does that take you? It would take him eight hours.

there you go. Red also sort of seeing Jack still working on his scroll, taps one of the arrows in his quiver. Did this baby last night before bed. See, Doran? And Red pulls the woodworking knife off his belt and sort of spins it in his hand and shows

Doran. This is what I was telling you about that giant woodworking knife. Oh. Oh yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Pass it over here. Yeah. And Red throws it. And Doran's sort of like in his bed roll. He's sort of slept between the fireplace and the front door. Sort of as like a bit of a century. But now he's sitting up his

bedroll. He's sort of tucked away a letter that he started to write to his mum, deciding that he's trying to be a better son. So he tucks us away and reaches forward to receive the knife that you're showing him. Oh yeah. It's quite the blade on that. Oh, it's quite sharp. Yeah, it's magical. It lets me make one of these arrows elemental This one I made So what does that mean? How does that work? Elemental.

Well, this arrow right here does fire damage So it's basically a magic arrow. Wow. Just adds a little pizzazz to my firing range. That's pretty amazing. I mean, you can't tell by looking at it, but you can certainly feel it by holding it. Here you go.

And he tosses, it sort of gently tosses it back to you And Red catches it. Yep. Well, suppose that helped a little bit. And we all healed, right? I mean, I'm definitely going to be rolling some dice. Yeah. So you guys can have taken a short rest.

If you want to roll hit dice, you can do that right now. So roll whatever dice is indicated on your character sheet and then add your constitution modifier. So these are a limited resource, right? You only have 10 of hit dice that you can. can roll. So that's that until you long rest. Yeah, the problem there being I rolled all 10 and I'm still not at max hip points because Jack was at the very bottom of the well there for a bit. I also do have the healing staff so I can top you up there. We're 65 out of 70. Like I'm not, I'm not

feeling the crunch too bad at the moment. But he still kind of got some scars on him. He's still, you know, a little bit bruised and battered. Uh, well, yeah, I mean, I'm feeling a little better now. By much. I'm feeling right as rain. Doran says standing up stretching. Yeah, I've got something to go do outside. Why don't you make breakfast? I'll be back in an hour or so.

Is he talking to us? Oh, yeah, sure. We'll just stay here and make you breakfast, Jack. Did he just give us an order to make him breakfast? Jesus Christ. Your rations. I love hash browns, though. He's still talking about breakfast.

What the fuck are we in? His mother's house or some shit? I have a potato. I got one of my bag. I got one of my bag. You've got potatoes. I may have taken it from your moms. Well, I guess who's cooking breakfast?

And Doren sort of looks around at Red and Mari. I got Jackie. I'm fine. Red walks out. Mari's eating a potato like it's an apple. All right. Lunatics. I think I could have a little bit of that potato.

You want to share a potato? All right. Yeah, you can have their potato. rest. Just a bite of raw potato to get you going in the morning. Yeah. Red's going to go check out the barn and just like scour for resources. I've been playing a lot of fallout lately.

Oh, yeah? Red just sort of like walks through. You know, he pokes around, looks through a rain barrel, sees if there's any sort of like rope or any supplies that are sort of useful. You find some, a braxo cleaner. Ooh. Perfect. Bottle caps.

Fake cleaner. Yeah, there's like some nails. some rusted nails. I use these. Red grabs them. And as he's like rifling through a barrel, he sees Jack, like, walk past him in the background. And he just turns around it.

You're okay, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. I just was going to try and get Kieran back. Oh, yeah. You don't want company for that, right? Or need company, you good, right? I mean, it's just boring. If you wanted to hang out for an hour, that's fine.

Yeah, all right. Red follows. Sure. I just didn't want to. That's okay. I've never seen you do it. I'm coming. We'll find a place out here.

It's all good. I'll talk to you. Yeah, sure. Let's keep it going. Yeah, let's go. What do you do it? Over here? It points to like a tree,

but like up in the tree. I mean, I was just looking for a flat surface to light a fire on. So if you see a good one... We can find you that. You know, maybe those rocks over there. Oh, it's too windy. Hey, you know what?

Inside the barn, it's well and open in here. Come on in. I found a barrel here, too. Great. You can do it. What a deep style where they light a fire in the barrel and crowd around it with cut off finger gloves.

you know what if you want to get a fire going here's some charcoal and incense and stuff and I'll get the other stuff I need Done! Rolls the barrel over and like tips it up And like it's like a metal barrel Which doesn't make any sense Yeah oh my god

It's like an oil barrel The idea of a familiar summoning over a burn barrel Is just something else Yeah he tips it up The wooden burn barrel Yeah Yeah and red lights the fire This like randomly metal barrel

And then he's like It's ready, Jack. Perfect. Actually, I flagged you down because I wanted to talk to you about something real quick. Oh, sure. You know, after seeing all that giant stuff, the cloud giant stuff, it got my brain of thinking about when we were at the stone giant stronghold.

Yes. And, you know, I've been, I don't know, I guess. I would like to say trying to find a time to tell you about it, but I had plenty of opportunities. I just guess I felt weird about it. What's going on? Remember when I touched that big stone sarcophagus and disappeared for a second? Yeah.

I wasn't entirely truthful about where I went. It wasn't bad or anything, but I was in this sort of big blank void. And this voice, this powerful, omnipresent voice, said it would... answer my questions. Whoa. Yeah.

Admittedly, I panicked. I wasn't really in the right headspace, and I didn't quite know how omnipresent this answering was. So I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I, well, I was a little selfish with the questions. I mean, if there's one thing we've learned to date, mysterious voices and creatures making promises and prophecies shall always probably be taken with a bit of a grain assault.

So, you know, I don't think there's any harm in asking what came to mind. But what did you ask? Well, I don't know. I've been looking for a way to sort of talk about it because there's not really anything to do with what we're doing. And like I said, I probably asked the wrong thing, and it's kind of silly to really even think about, but I don't know. I asked it about

these and Red reaches up to the top of his head and he sort of touches the scars where his ears were. Hmm I and Red almost looks nervously back towards the house where the other two are. It's very clear

he's extremely like sensitive about this he's never talked about it to almost anybody and he turns back to Jack and says I don't know where my ears went or my tale is the truth of the matter. I've never known.

From as far back as I can remember, I just didn't have them. And, uh, you know, it, it caused a, it caused a great deal of, um, difficulty growing up. You know, I, I, I, I, never really felt like I could belong. I can imagine.

But, but, but anyway, it's besides the point. I, I, I asked the voice, assuming it could answer anything, a question that I thought would stump it. But it answered my question. I asked it what happened to my ears and tail, and it told me that a man came to my village when I was very young and took them. And in my blind rage, rather than asking anything more useful, I asked where I could find him.

Hmm. And the voice said a place called Mithrin. And I guess I'm wondering if you, of old people, might know where that is. Hmm. Look, I thought about being wily about this and trying to, you know, get into a water deep and get to a library and look it up and I still probably will but I figured after our talk

the other day and a little trying to rebuild the trust that we've had I wanted to ask you straight up to see if you could maybe help. Yeah let me think about it. I mean Mazdican geography is not

a subject I'm well-schooled in but that's just a thing. I don't know if it's Mazdiken exactly. I mean admittedly i don't know much about where i'm from but uh i don't know joe have i heard of mithron you can roll history i'd love to 14 yeah um you know what i'm going to use my inspiration actually whoa okay i was i was so inspired that i got 15 so no Oh, worth it.

Jack, you have poured over many a map. Mm-hmm. You are 95% sure that this place, if red is pronouncing it correctly, which he may not be, is not part of the continent of Fyroon. Mm-hmm. But you are pretty friggin sure that if you had access to some of the famous Water-Davian libraries, that you could probably help them out. Well, I mean, it's not something I've got off the top of my head.

But there's lots of references. If we get somewhere like Waterdeep, somewhere like Neverwinter, somewhere with a big library that's on that coast with lots of boats going across. Because Mithran might not even be how they're saying it in the common tongue here. There might be a different interpretation or a different spelling or all that kind of stuff. We'll keep an eye out for it, though. Yeah. Yeah, hey, that's true, eh?

Yeah. All right. Well, thank you. And do me a favor, don't say anything to anybody. Sure. I want to keep this close to the chest. It's, I don't know, kind of a sensitive part of my history. If I find out who this person was,

I may need to do some things to confront my past that might not make everybody else happy. Hey, I don't know what that was like for you growing up, but I can imagine what it's like. to be teased for being a little weird and uh having that be a big thing and if you whatever you need to confront that party yourself and and make peace with it yeah yeah thanks jack well you know what maybe when we get back to Waterdeep we can team up together and head to the library and find something yeah uh anyway that's all i don't want to think about it

because you know sadness yeah all right i'll shut up uh i'll let summon kieran back silently watching you promise yeah and jack has a a whole selection of different incense and herbs and twigs and things. And as he starts doing the ritual, they start to, like, float out of his hand and burn up in real specific patterns in the fire until some of those bits of flame get, like, locked in place. And pretty soon there's all of the symbols that open this portal to another world. Out jumps the same dragon with all the gravitas we saw before,

head with antlers, mouth with boars tusks and saber teeth, bare paws, alligator claws, and none of the majesty is lost, given that the fact that he's only, you know, cat-sized and not giant. Oh, wow. Hey, Kieran! You look tiny but cool. Yeah, Kieran is now a pseudo-dragon. Yeah. It's very exciting.

So not really a dragon. What is what you're saying? That always fun to watch. Wow. So quiet for so long. It happened so quickly, though. Their slinky lizard form, you know, still covered in golden shimmering scales and some of the golden retriever kind of fur patched on, walks up on a stairway of clouds until they, you know, can curl around Jack's neck. And, you know, he gives him a pat and a little bit of jerky that he's been squirling away just in case Red ever needed it.

Ah, my jerky! Let's head back inside. I smell potato pancakes. and red jaunts away towards the house. As Red saunteres out of the barn back to the farmhouse, Jack, you are afforded a couple of precious moments alone with your familiar. And it's wild to experience Kieran now, as Jack closes his eyes,

he's feeling all of Kieran's senses just as acutely as he is his own, and that mental connection is open and flowing in a way it never was before. There's almost like an intuitive in each other's bodies thing without the stopping to concentrate on it and focus on it. It's just that like comfort and warm hug of a familiar, especially wrapped around his neck like this. It's almost like, you know, Jack feels he could resist the world. You feel a rush of emotion that is conveyed to you through Kieran's telepathy, that there is. is just this crush of appreciative familiarity, this love, this missing you that you haven't had for so long. I mean, it's a shared emotion between the two of you. I mean, that's the

kind of communication pseudo-dragons are most known for, not even with their familiar masters, but, you know, they can, they can communicate telepathically some simple ideas, emotions, images with anyone. Hey boss. Hey, Kieran. Oh, it's so good to your back. It's been a while. Yeah, I'm so glad we connected again. There was just, my brain was all messed up.

Magic was hard, but I, once I felt your spirit, it was easy to get you back here. I can't wait to catch you. Yeah, I got a lot to tell you about it's been a wild couple of days. I missed you. I missed you, too. I'm going to make a note, Little and Fire. Raspi.

Kieran took up Has like a two pack a day habit now You know That's what all these incense I'm feeding him are Is that what's going on? You've been tossing fucking Belmonts in there? Jesus Christ

Belmonts The dumpsteros I was going to say Of all the cigarettes Back in the farmhouse What are Mari and Doran up to? Yeah so Doran has managed to scrounge up some eggs.

And Mari is... What animal are these from, Mari? Where? Snake. Some like, they're probably in his back. They're not chicken eggs. We're clear about that. No, they're not that.

They're fucking well salamander eggs. Oh, boy. Oh, my God. Jelly donuts. Dorn, you got to put these back. I met that guy. No, no. They're delicious.

Trust me. And he makes. the mom. It smells so good over the fire. Yeah, Mari, Marie has taken the other potato that she did not eat and has shredded it or is like chopped it up and is kind of frying it up in a pan over a little fire just to get something to eat.

If you are expecting that to satisfy three other grown adventurers, you are sorely who said she was cooking for the others? Jack's going to be like, oh, you guys did make me hash brown. You just cook Doran's eggs for yourself? We need those eggs, Doran? No, he's cooking his own, his own eggs. She will not be complicit in the death of the giant salamander. Y'all are fending for yourself this morning.

I get it. Didn't even need to cook those eggs. They went down so well. Ew. Oh, God. How you doing, Doran? You've been kind of quiet this morning. Is that potato not sitting well with you?

Potato is sitting fine, Mari. And Doran's like staring down. And he's cleaning the pan, he's cooked on, and he's scraping away. And you can tell he's, he's buried in his thoughts. What's, what's going on? We've, we've had a weird night, a weird day. It's really bothering me how we had to run away from that, from that battle, those cobalds and the trolls. We might have come out on top, had we.

Doran, there is not a single way that we would have come out of top. What would have happened is we both would have been flattened. Possibly, possibly. But you know what bothers me. We were ill prepared. I mean, hell, we should have been more prepared for that. I mean, I can think of a dozen different ways we could have prepared for that situation. Had we known, you know, what we were going to be up against.

I did this for decades, Murray, fought battles. And I guess it just bothers me to have to run away from. I mean, don't you get yourself a little beat up over running away like that from a fight? Mari puts the pan down. I think the sign of a good warrior is someone who knows when to walk away from a battle. Yeah, yeah. Mari straightens up. Doran, do you have a god that you follow?

Oh, well, uh, yeah. Yeah, of course. All dwarves do. The god of Moradin. I have been thinking about speaking to that other druid. And he spoke about Sylvanus. And, Dorn, I have spent so many years under the study of Eldath in the waters near my home, trying to cultivate this sense of peace within myself, within.

my space around others, and I have had my problems with her before. I have had my doubts. I have had my thoughts, and I've talked about those in the past, but. Doran, I have never felt more far from her than in these moments, and the only thing I have left as that connection is this magic. And I set out on the this journey to see if I could find forgiveness, if I could find that connection to her again because I was afraid that I would never feel the strength of that bond again. And right now, it feels further than ever. How can you get your God?

How can you get them back in your life? Can I? Do I want them back? Do they want me back? I don't know. I don't know. That's a question. It's a question, Doran.

Maybe you're thinking about it too much. I think if I ever found her, if she's there, if she is willing to speak to me, if she is real. I have a lot of questions. I think I have a lot of... anger maybe at this point but who knows you ever met a god doran I met three and I'm traveling with them I'm kidding but you guys but you guys are all great and listen oh they're coming up I don't know but the berries here are the same are the ones in Scarborough I don't think those were berries there were rabbit tracks

all around there oh come on me berries oh sorry what we guys talk about it seems intense in here. Eggs. Those are snake eggs. Oh. Well, he ate them. But I do have granola in my pack if you guys want anything. That's snake granola.

She's hiding the potatoes. The remnants. Kieran conveys an image of hash browns to you, Jack, telepathically. Rob, did you find a... Damn it. I think I made it so... God damn it. Doran walks right in front of Red and Mari,

and up to Jack's familiar and he says to Jack wow don't tell me that's Kieran I can you remember his name but not mine I can only imagine

they're sending you like visions of all of the different games of chance that they've beat you in over the like course of this adventure yeah just so that you really know it's them yeah yeah yeah good to see you again

there's an image of a golden retriever just trouncing you at dragon chess and that's how you know and pissing in your boots while you're sleeping oh that that one's secret uh yeah so i suppose we want to get back on the road well yeah absolutely i guess the question is and you look down and there's like this big charcoal drawing of the of the area where do you want to go nice oh well treneiro said we got across the dawn pass and then head to the southern peaks yeah That'll be, at least towards the next spot we need to be. The Southern Peaks.

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to all that up we have to climb. Getting down here was the nice part of the trek, I think. God, I forgot about the up. Oh, wait, I can turn into a bird. Oh, no, that's true. Suckers. Look, I think the main takeaway from yesterday is that, when possible, we should avoid combat, especially knowing that our goal here is not to take down these dragon cultists,

as deadly as they may seem, at least not right now. You know, our goal, as ordained by the old father, is to worry about the giant problem. I think we need to focus on getting Kralath's soul to rest and the other members of the Eternal Order, and then heading back to Waterdeep and then onto the Giants. And it was my fault. I got distracted by that. I thought every problem that we crossed was ours to solve, and that just can't be the case. That direction is south, and this is the dawn paths, and so we've got to go up between the peak, something about a mountain, it's the sun.

Yeah, I'll get us there, don't worry. Look, that's the direction we need to head, though, right, Jack? So if we just head in that direction, and then our voices trail off. Oh, God. Why is Dawn talking so quietly? Why is he fading into the distance? Eventually fast forward to the air. It's the thin air.

We're not even at the top of the mountain yet. That's just his lead into the fast travel montage. All right. Well, let's pack up here, put up the fires, and then I suppose get back on the trail, right? Yeah. Let's go. And red heads for the door and leaves.

It's a beautiful sunny day if crisp and cold and sunlight glitters off the snow all around you. You make a good time. heading south into the southern reaches of the Great Peak Mountains, and perhaps guided by Tranieros, you find your way to where the sun rises between the two equal peaks. It takes you two days. Red turns to the others.

I think it's just up here. Oh, good. Give me a second, and I'll see what he says. There's a bank of trees over there, maybe just hang out there in case. It's kind of open at the top. What a beautiful adventure this has been those last two days. I cannot believe how sparkled.

Could you imagine what those gnomes were doing? Oh my God. And those fireworks? That felt illegal. I couldn't imagine. The night sky. I've never seen skating like that. Incredible.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Oh. Good to know that. At least the other three strongholds are done now, though. Yeah, look at all these conches we have. Yeah. And all this gold.

And an airplane. Oh, wow. There's another conch in the snow just there. And in only two days, we're the richest people in all of the forgotten realms. Are he's covering crowns? Look at my new sword. And Torne and I are married and never going to break up ever. The dungeon master's become a PC.

Elister's back. Oh, God. In pieces. Oh, no. It's a bit exposed, so I'll head up ahead alone and I'll be right back. And remember what Jack and I told you A whole cloud giant castle got brought down So keep your eyes on the skies

And Red kind of hikes up to the crest You know, 100 feet away to put on the ring And as he reaches the top Sort of scans the horizon and then slips on the ring Captain Tranieros appears in front of him His arms crossed As if he's been waiting for you this whole time All right, we're here.

Where's the... Where's the next spot to take us there? I will guide you. But you must keep the ring on. Of... Why? The way is fraught. And if it is how I remember it being

a thousand years ago, there are many dangers. Fine. As for our deal, red-handed Robin. I don't even know about the deal. You haven't told me enough. We are out of time now, if you do intend to go to the repository to complete this mission. Fine, fine, fine, fine.

And for some reason, I can't tell anybody else. The Dwarven soldier would use it for his own military purposes, and the half-elf wizard would see it in a museum where anyone's prying eyes could find it and desire it. and the Janassi doesn't even realize her true power. I trust you not. But you are the only option that remains. And I know you will do justice to this task to honor your friend. Fine, fine. All right, we have a deal.

I'll keep it safe. Tell me where I can find it. Thank you to our wonderful patrons, Ace, Abril, Adam Fry, Alicia Andrus, Allison Wrights, Alicia Dar, Amanda Nicole, Annalina, Otholigoff, Axel, Bob, Casey, Charles, Clockwork Phoenix, Christopher, Colin Burckhardt, Crow, Dippity, Danny, David Shaw, Eldridge Unicorn, Aaron Lightning, Fisher, Fjord, Tau, Gareth Bradshaw, Haley, GPTC, Hiss the Movie, Hopper the Mox, J.D., Yagereska, Ginette, Joshua Nance, Jury, Jasper, Cass, Keith, Kelly Fowler, K. M. Kirk Averin. Levi. Lickrott.

Leader J. Liz. Lorelei Feldman, Manderpants. Merrick's Moon. Mizra. Merlin. Mossy Stars. Melinda Curley. Moon. Mickey.

Nicole Gianetti. Oakland. Pandora. Pinch of Peppers. Queen. Red. Regan. Ren.

Scotty. Shannon Waldner, Seer of Time, Stab, Sunny, S-ray 96, Tegan, T-Kettle, Tony Pepperoni, Trin, Vol Control, Waffle 427, Xander Morning Dove, Yami, Zach House, and Zephyrus. Thank you so much. For some reason I just picture Jack with a crown on, like, sitting on a... I hate to tell you, there's, and then there's that moment every day where, Jack just turns the illusion off and we all go back to being poor. Oh, that's why.

Oh, God. Rule. Let's rob them. Look at them walking down the road, Covety Richies. I'm going to fucking kill that elf. Why? Why was this your disguise?

I just thought it was fun. Ten minutes later, as the illusion fades and Jack's throat is slit, he says, I just thought it was fun. Poor guy. Appears almost comically from behind a tree. and walks towards you. Hello there.