Dice Shame - 2-98 | 'Onwards and Upwards'

Episode Date: July 11, 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.

Oh, that's what that was. Covered in blood. That you'd like before I was singing along with you. There's a sign right here. Too many mornings started in the dark recently. We're in Longrest Grove. Good advice, sir, right? Is the weather going to explode?

Yeah, I'll make you regret this. They're big natural melons. I thought maybe this crossbow was broken. Onward and up with, right? We're on a pilgrimage to go to the place they left their souls. It's a terrible idea. It's not simple to light this fire with damp firewood and a bunch of people standing around. Are you remembering something?

Nothing specific. Just looking up at the stars And it's been a long time, right, since I've been able to appreciate. He says he remembers killing elves here. Anyway, let's get set up. Welcome back to Dice Shame. This is Season 2, Episode 98, Onwards and Upwards.

MVP this week is Trind. Trin is a fan in our discord and a friend. They've been a longtime supporter of everything we do, and we are so excited to give them MVP this week. Thanks, Trin. All right, should we play some D&D? Yeah, let's do it. Woo!

Running into the foothills, the sun is coming down on Reds Rovers, and it becomes clear to the four of you that you're going to have to make camp before you end up at the Dragon's doorstep. Reds Rovers. Come on, everyone. Harmonies, harmonies. I've never been a singer. Every good band of adventurers needs a song, and I'm trying to get... I'm still working on the melody. Can't just play the drums? Maybe my problem is I always start in the last line I mean, Reds, Roe.

You could at least count us in. He just starts singing out of nowhere. I always figured you write a song by the ending first and then that way the rest just kind of fulfills itself. It's just around, actually. Dorn's like in the background doing these like low harmonic tone songs that Dwarms always sings. That's what that was.

It wasn't. I thought you were just moaning to yourself. Stop that tummy for the last minute of... I stopped looking back ages ago out of the fear of what I would see. Genuinely, I thought it was something else. Doren, nice harmonies. Are those dwarven harmonies? Yes, they are red.

Of course, in the dwarven culture, that's singing. I thought you would like that. Oh, I do. You'd like if I was singing along with you. No, I did. I really did. I thought it added a nice graveliness to the song. Well, thank you.

Thank you. Anyway, this looks like as good a place as any to rest up for the night. What do you think, guys? Yeah, we can make it. Yeah, back is killing me. You've come to a safe little glade. There's a pool of water off to one side. There's quite a few trees here.

And a little, like, cave area has been sort of hollowed out of the side of the mountain. Looks like you could get some cover if it were to start raining or snowing. Safe enough for a long rest. Wow. Perfect. Maybe not. A long rest.

We're in Longrest Grove. Wow. There's a sign right here. Covered in blood. If you guys wanted to spend a couple of days chopping down all of these trees, building a log cabin. You know what accepted, Joe.

Sending letters to a nearby town to have someone come and staff the establishment that you've built. All right. I guess we got things to do. You hear that, Mr. Treneros? Red says and turns to, like, Captain Treneros who's, like, leaning against a tree. I think that Red has enough familiars at this point that we could, in fact, staff a small place just with animals. Now, would they be good staff?

I don't know, but. It's not about that. It's like Snow White's cottage with all the animals. Yeah, except Trenieros comes over and slaps me. Captain Trenieros is leaning against a nearby tree and he's looking around pensively He's looking pensive again guys What is it now

Brass not green enough for your highness No right it's just that This place seems familiar Oh he says it feels familiar I mean if they made this same track A couple of centuries ago or whatever It you know Maybe enough of it's the same

The landscape, the horizon Dyson could trigger some memories, for sure. Yeah, you're remembering something? Nothing specific. Just looking up at the stars. It's been a long time, Red, since I've been able to appreciate. He says he remembers killing elves here. Anyway, let's get set up.

Just kidding. He says, he says, he remembers staring at the stars out here. They must have camped here for a night, so that means it's a safe place. I'll go get some wood, and Red tracks off to the... edge of the tree line to chop down some little branches. Doran starts to kind of like pad around with this feet in the snow to create sort of a space to build a fire and maybe lay some bed rolls down or blankets down if we're going to have it maybe a relaxing moment. As you've been ascending into the foothills, the snow's actually sort of disappearing. It's quite a bit warmer up here than it was down

on the road. It's sort of a little less snowy up here. It seems to be warming up. It's kind of nice. Maybe we should eat some food. Whose turn is it to cook dinner? Everyone's just looking at each other. I have jerky.

I think maybe mine again. Excellent. Okay. I don't know if I could do more jerky. It's been like three days. It tastes good, but I'm picking a lot of it out of my teeth. That's not jerky. Red says coming back with a handful of wood. That's just some of the hair from my paw when I hand it to you.

And he drops the wood next to the fireplace. It feels like spring, doesn't it? Yeah. I feel like we're finally shaking off the coil of winter. Duren leans over and starts a fire real quick. Good job, Doren. What's going? I love that Doren feels like he needs to start the fire real quick to have command over it

before someone with magic snaps their fingers and starts to open. Like he's almost defensively guarding the wood. until it's like rubbing two sticks together he's like almost there guys I got it too close to it it would get his beard at the same time we don't have an end I've got this though I've got this she's like every once in a while when he starts to get it she casts a little water it goes out again he's like oh so hard no red this woods all wet because it's damn marie goes and she she cast druid craft and one of the things it allows to see is to is what the weather is like and instead of creating like a simple orb that shows it's going to be snowing or the sun

it just seems to keep shifting like it should be snowing but the weather is too warm so it doesn't really know what it wants to do like as a spring the spring weather and the winter weather are meeting and swirling in this little orb and then it just pops out uh what does that say is the weather going to explode uh i mean it's winter down there. It's warmer up here. Something is odd about the weather right now. Even the druid mentioned it. The spring is coming earlier. Things are warmer. Normally this magic's pretty it's simple, but it's pretty accurate and that looks weird. Have you ever obtained a reading like that before, Mari? The closest she's ever come to that is one points when a storm has been coming in.

So the weather, you can see it start to shift on the edges where maybe, you know, late enough in the day, the weather will turn. So it starts off as like a simple, like sunny day and then here comes clouds and darkness and when the magic puffs out of existence. But this was all swirling in one mass. You call your magic simple a lot, Mary. This is, this is, I mean, to me it's small magic. Yeah, but what's big magic? What's not simple? Well, I...

That's not a challenge, I'm just wondering. You always say, this is simple magic. I'll tell you, it's not simple to light this fire with damp firewood and a bunch of people standing around. Martin snaps her fingers and there's just fire going. Thank you, thank you, thank you, okay? I didn't want to ask, but geez, Louise. Anytime. So what's difficult magic then?

I brought Elister back and we all saw how that went. on the simple side of things I can create tiny pieces of nature I can do this and she taps her ring against reds and the bird song happens but there's larger things out there there's deeper wells to dive into

their darker waters that are some I've explored and some I haven't when I say simple I just mean small small magic that allows you to change things. Big magic changes you. So it's a size thing. Gotcha. Red walks away.

You know, Murray, got to give yourself a little bit more credit. I mean, sure, Ellister died, a gnome, and you brought him back as a Duragar, but let's be honest here, you brought him back. And he was still kind of the same person on the inside. Even he knew that. I mean, hey, it's easy to... enough to beat yourself up over these things, but come on now.

Look, even the smallest twig goes on the fire, helps it out, right? I don't know how that relates or anything. Dorn, that's not a twig. That's one of my chickens' feet. Oh, shoot. Red scoops down and picks it up. Goes into his bag. Oh, by the way, Marie, I have this for you.

And he pulls out the flower that he took from the Cloud Giant's Garden, as well as the giant berry. Remember these, Jack? And Red holds them up. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I'll get mine. And Jack opens his portable hole and pulls out his giant melons and a handful of berries that are slightly different than the water. Nice melons, Jack.

Look at those gazongas. Oh, look at the size of those bones. Look at Jack's melons. They're big natural melons. Funny every time. Do they feel lopsized to you? Like, I feel like it, you know, they look like the thing. No, that's totally normal.

It's pretty rare to have two melons of equal exact size. Don't feel weird about that. Those are really nice melons, no, Jack. The melons you come by, you just, you find what you find, right? Like, it's not, you don't get a lot of choices. I can't believe you've been hiding those in that bag of yours. Boobes. Anyway, here, Mari, and Red Hands Mari, the flower that he found.

And then he holds the bear and he's like, I'm going to cut this up so we can all try it. It's a giant cloud berry, I'm calling it. Mari, the flower that red hands you is this beautiful orchid. It is a mixture of white and pink. and peachy tones, and the flower looks disturbingly similar to Red's face. I knew you'd love it. This is definitely interesting. Red, where did you get this?

Well, remember how Jack and I were telling you about the cloud giant castle that fell? This was in the garden. Did you not tell me that your family actually has like a genus of flower named after you or something? No, that's just a quinky dink, I think, I think. Probably. Does it smell like anything? If it smells like chicken, it's because it was in my bag. It smells slightly of chicken, and there's like a spicy, heady perfume underneath.

Like me. It's kind of, it's kind of a weird, weird stinking there. What? Red, I still don't know, I still don't know much about you. You and what is this culture? What do you mean you don't know much about me? Well, we've been friends for five months, Doran. Doran takes a deep whiff of the scents that are coming under your bag.

You know, you can tell a lot about a person, by the way, they smell and the things that they have around them. You know, I don't mean that as a bad thing. It's actually kind of a good thing. Dwarf with brains in his beard. Are you implying I'm stinky? No, no, I just, what I'm trying to say is, I guess what I'm trying to say right is, They don't know much about your home culture. Oh.

And, you know, like, what happened to your ears or where you come from? Oh, right. Well, Mastika is the short answer to that one. It's a beautiful place of warm sands and tall creatures and fruits of the nature of which you'd never even imagine. Really, eh? as to my ears and my tail well actually

well I was just talking to Jack about this but I guess I might as well tell you I don't know what happened to my ears or my tail you don't no I knew they were removed

I knew it wasn't an accident it's to a red sort of points to his head to surgical, for lack of a better word. But I, well, I recently found out that a man came and took them. And Jack is going to help me try to track them down, I think. Right, Jack? Lost City of Mithrin. You know it. It's on top of my list. We hope it's a city. I mean, it could be a town or a Hamlet or a shoebox.

Probably not a shoebox. So, the same man took your ears and your tail? Yeah, I guess he was a little bit... Red sort of looks a little bit nervous for a second. You know, I'm sure he had his reasons. But if I do find him, I need you all to know that, well, a man like that isn't going to get away with it. Look, Red, I realize that maybe this... These are questions which you're not very comfortable talking about, but I found that sometimes

talking about things that aren't so comfortable to talk about, make it easier to talk about it. And so I appreciate you opening up. You're right. You're right. So it took your ears and your tail? Yeah. Red turns around like points to his butt. See?

No tail. So you would have normally had a tail. Oh. sits down next to the fire and he says, look, the truth of it is, when I was a kid, it was really tough to sort of fit in, you know? I don't know if you know this about taboxies or people like us, but, well, we use our tails and our ears to communicate a great deal of things.

Fear, they go back, excitement, they perk up, our tails go wild. Additionally, having one of these bad boys would have helped a lot with my balance growing up. So, um, it became kind of difficult for me. I had to learn how to do things differently than all the other kids, than all my brothers and sisters, and, uh, it was tough for a while. But I made it through. You know what? I, like I said, I appreciate you opening up about this, and it just reminds me of, of, you know, like, uh, there was a guy I knew growing up that,

He couldn't grow a beard. I'll tell you, it was the most embarrassing thing for him, but I think it made him stronger. And if you, if you ever hear of beardless frugal, then, then you'll know, just how... You nicknamed him beardless brugal? Compassionately, though. His name is frugal.

But we named him beardless frugal when he was, you know. Thanks, Doran. I know that comparison wasn't nice. meant to be as terrible as it was, but I appreciate trying. Hey, you got your ears and tail cut off? I had a friend who took a while to grow a beer. Same thing.

Clean, shaven, Bob. Yeah. But thank you, Doran. I've always had a bit of fear in sharing things like this with you. And Jack and Mario.

Anyway And Red sort of stands up And like Clears his throat And And flicks his eyes Towards Captain Trineros And

Yeah but you know Hey Onward and upwood right We're soldiers in the end I'm not a soldier I'm as far as you can get from one Yeah Yeah

Okay Well we kill a lot of people Oh good point In varying degrees of magnitude It's not a numbers game Doesn't it just make us murder Anyways. No, no, no.

Murderers get paid. Oh, sorry, assassins get paid. I mean, adventure is a weird job, for sure. Yeah. You should have seen us when we killed that first goblin, Mari. We had a whole debate. I imagine that you all just stood there, and this goblin just brandished something at you,

and you sort of huddled together and went, do we do this? Do we take, do we head down this road? No, we had a tough time deciding what to do. Thank you. You'd hugged it out. You could have been taking an entirely different path. Anyway, and Red sort of heads off to the water and washes his hands next to the pool. Kind of sadder, in a way. Hmm. So you're going to try to help him find the guy who took his ears? Uh, yeah. Mithrin is what he told me. I, I mean, when you get a vision from a tomb of an old

giant who tells you where the guy who took your ears and tail is, I think you, you owe it to follow up on that, the kind of mystery you can't just leave hanging, you know? I mean, hmm, I knew he was hiding something when he came back from that. No one drifts into the, into the void and comes back that shaken without seeing something that changes you. Yeah, and I mean, it can't be that hidden of a city or town or whatever. I'm sure as soon as we get to water deep, there's got to be a, complete enough map that's going to point us in the right direction.

Oh, as long, as it's above ground, Jack, as long as it's above ground. You know, Lathander's light, I hope so. Too many mornings started in the dark recently, I'll tell you that. Oh, yeah. So what are we making? Red comes back. Oh. This is like one of those moments where there's a bunch of adults and they're just like, I don't know what to make for dinner.

All right, all right. I'll cook something up. Give me a few minutes. I'll go hunt something in the woods. Anyone want to come? Well, Doring grabs a little crossbow off his back. Maybe I'll give this thing a try. Hey, sure. Let's do it.

Red throws his bow back on his back and charges off. I'm going to give you some good old pointers, my friend. Have fun. All right. Nope, you're holding it backwards. Okay. I know how this thing works. Trust me.

What I'd like to know, though, is should I follow your footprints exactly? I think Jack sits down next tomorrow as she starts getting the rest of the dinner fixings going and pulls out a sketchbook and starts sketching the berries and melons and things to try and keep a record of these, you know,

temporary things that will spoil. So at least there's, you know, some picture to look back on later. Are you good at that? It's not my greatest talent, no. But there's, I think there's a lot of, practice field sketches for archaeology and stuff of trying to like know where everything was and have a have a plot of things and so he's he's doing his best it's you know it's not it's not nobody's

going to hang it up on their wall but it would certainly convey the message of you know the notable features i think i'm glad someone's doing it i have to admit somewhere out there my grandmother is not thrilled with the fact that i have not been keeping as diligent of a record of the plants that i have come across. She was very stringent about that. I mean, the plants part is a new, a new thing. I just got sick of drawing coins. I'm still, like, working my way through Zozenboffel, and every one of those coins is a little bit different. And it's just, you can see, like, the first three-thirds of his book are, you know, all just coins. Jack, you're fantastically good at drawing circles. I'll say that, but also other things. But I feel like I want to get you a cube or something to draw. And she's

sort of watches as Red and Doran wander off into the forest. She's like, can I, can I share something with you? Sure. I don't know where you left off with Elister, but he kind of confessed his love for me. And I think I've been trying to process that for the last little bit. And now he's gone and I didn't say goodbye. I just assumed he died. and then he was gone.

Well, it's hard to imagine. He came in pretty vulnerable between pulling him out of that sack where he'd been living on his own grill cheese sandwiches he could summon to, I am praying he makes it home safe and on our trip back, we can stop in and see him sometime. Oh, I don't know if I really want to. I mean, it's flattering, it's nice, but... I mean, yeah, fair.

That could feel really awkward for you. I get that. Yeah, that's, it's, you know, I'm, I can't say that I'm currently in a space in which I'm looking for commitment. And he seemed pretty interested. And I, oh, maybe didn't handle it as best I could, but, I mean, you know the ways of love of infatuation. You have a partner. You know these things. Sure. Yeah.

Red and Doran, you are stalking some rabbits through the woods. You found their tracks. They're relatively fresh. And you haven't seen the animals yet, but you know they're close. These tracks are still a little bit behind. Let's just keep following them. And Red sort of walks alongside Doran. You know, Red, I can't help but think that as we wander through these foothills, we're gonna at any moment we're gonna have a periton

swinging down from the skies yeah don't these woods remind you of the woods in ice went dale yeah ice went dale hey remember that remember that time that we floated downstream

we were with Kraloth and we floated down that stream and ended up seeing that that giant thing, that giant beast? Oh yeah. The one that got him. Yeah, we floated downstream after that.

That giant thing that took him out and then... Yeah. Remember, we stayed that night in the cabin. Yeah, that's right. We found an old cabin in the woods next to the stream. Yeah. That's where we

left our bloodstones. That's right. Remember, we buried the bodies out front under that tree. Oh, that's right. I forgot all about that. Part of me thinks that's where Kralath died, you know. Yeah. That's where he's buried in my mind. Yeah.

You know, it's been rattling around my head so much lately since our talk at your mom's house about how, you know, we were really just a footnote on Kralath's long, storied life. Yeah, oh, man. But honestly, it's made it a lot easier for me. I think it clicked pretty early on, but I couldn't really form the words as to why. And hell, I'm happy to help him, but. And Red looks past Doran to Trenneros, who's like walking alongside them also, but only Red can see him. But at this point, I'm almost more excited to help the other people in Kralov's party.

You know, Krayloff had a life after. He got moments with us. He got to taste the food and to experience combat, but the others. And walking alongside you, Treneros is still looking. up at the sky, and you hear him speaking quietly to himself almost. It's been so many centuries wondering what an afterlife might feel like. And all I've known is this cold, the grip of the darkness. And red, sort of to Doran, says,

It's a sad life, the life of a soldier. Yeah. Oh, shh, wait. Get down. No. Look. Up there. Oh.

There's like a big, fat rabbit. Hopping along stupidly. Oh, fresh rabbit. That'll make some good jerks. Oh, damn. No jerky. Right, right, right. All right, Doran, look.

I don't want to tell you how to do your thing. You're as good a warrior as anybody. Oh, I think you should take the shot. No, no, no. Listen, I'm only going to tell you this. Before I fire, I close one eye, I breathe out. And just before firing, I open the other eye. That always gives me a moment of calm before letting go.

Try that. Exhale completely, close one eye, open, and then fire. All right, all right, all right. You know, I'm a seasoned warrior, Fred. Hey, you give me and Jack and Mari advice about close combat all the time. Yeah, you're right. Admittedly, I don't need it at all, but... Here we go.

I'm actually almost better with a blade. Don't worry. And I'm going to give Doran my advantage. A two and a 17. Oh, that's going to be a help comes in clutch. A 20, an unnatural 20 to hit. Doran, as you're looking down the bolt of this crossbow, your arms are shaking with the exhaustion of the day.

And you're not sure that you're going to hit this rabbit until you close your one eye. And then things seem to resolve into clarity. You can focus in. And loosing the bolt, you peg the creature right between the eyes, and it falls painlessly dead. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Good advice, sir, Red. You took the shock.

I even opened the other eye. Good job, buddy. I closed both my eyes. Wow, if you just don't even look, it works so well. Trenneros nods in approval. Red heads up, skins the animal, and they head back. So if you ever did want to get into your grandmother's good books, Mara, you could... So I invented this spell a little while ago.

I call it Jack's Magic Letters. You can send a letter with, you know, audio-vision. components anywhere in the multiverse in like an hour. I'm pretty proud of it. Murray's like cutting up one of these melons and like wrapping jerky around it, like one of those like prosciutto wrapped melon things. And she just kind of shakes her head and goes, I mean, this would have been a useful thing to know back when I was sending letters.

But I mean, with, I should, I really should write to her at some point. Letters have caused us a lot of drama lately. I, you know, but I did see you send one or, you know, find a, a post box in Scarborough. So I thought I'd just put the offer out there any time. I've heard. And she shoots Jack a look. Did Red talk to you?

Well, yeah, we talked. There's no problems between us. I got to get back to Waterdeep as soon as I can. But we've got to finish this while we're here. She kind of leaves it for a second. She can sense this discomfort that's starting to creep in. Your grandmother, she, you know, with the herbs and stuff. She also knew the same kind of magic you do?

I mean, she was brilliant. She, I mean, she is. She's still around. She just doesn't do as much of it anymore. But when I was younger, I would go there. And there was always this bubbling cauldron. It feels like a stereotype, but it'd be just roiling away in her place. And it would always be something different, some different solved, some sort of other type of potion or concoction.

and she would just know I would need a recipe to do half the stuff that she would do and she would just walk around her little cottage and just grab these unlabeled or mislabeled bottles and make stuff. And there are times where it felt almost like maybe she was just faking it, like she was doing this for show, but it always worked. Everything always worked. It was, it's an art form. Well, yeah, I mean, strength of will plays a lot into magic, I think, of all stripes.

I sometimes I also wonder if it's, if she mislabeled her stuff just for safety's sake. She was pretty well known as a healer in our little town, and you never know what people are going to try to do when they're inside your space, when they think they can use these ingredients on your own. Once I watched a guy think, he grabbed a bottle, and it was labeled as this potion that would make your hair. get thicker, but he just stole it and took a big swig and then he had to come back and ask her to help out because he had an arm growing out of his head later. Oh no. I mean, it was funny for me. That can happen? Well, yeah, if you're not careful and you just drink bottles from some random lady's house, don't do that. It's a terrible idea. It wasn't the top of my list. Red and Doran come tramping out of the woods with a skinned rabbit. I had something about a third arm growing out

of her head. It looks like we missed the juicy bits, Doran. juicy bits. Here we go. Look at this and he holds up the rabbit. Doran shot that himself. Wow. Very good.

Good catch. I'm like a little spit here, I suppose. Red grabbed some stigs. I'm not going to lie. Doreen kind of holds up his crossbow. I thought maybe this crossbow was broken

with the number of shots I've missed. Please name your crossbow Costco. Costco the crossbow. The Costco. The Costco. And Crospo, that's, that'll do it, right? Because the deals keep on coming. Bought en masse for the...

It's a Kirkland brand. You should have seen the deal I got in these bolts. Wow. Anyway, Red chops up the rabbit and cuts it open and hangs it over the fire. Yeah, skins it. Yeah, well, I skin it out in the woods, remember? Ah, yes. Don't they have a second skin?

It's like a stew. It gets a second skin if you leave it long enough. Dorn's got the fur on his head. It's like... Blit. Oh, right, of course. The blood's like leaking down his forehead. Good job. Gross. A little rabbit. Sounds good to me.

It's only slightly bloody. And Red gets comfy by the fire. So Jack, how's that flute coming? I mean, you've heard every one of my practices, I think. So it hasn't changed since yesterday's screeching or the day before that. I'm almost ready for a new songbook, though. This one is feeling less inspired by. Is that what that's so?

No, it's been. Oh, what is it? Red walks over and grabs the songbook from you. What is this called? It was flute for beginners or something. What is this name? It's an elvish. No, it wasn't.

It was the one we bought, well, he was being... Yeah, you got it in... Assassinated. Yeah. Everland or something? I spent actions buying this book. It's an elvish or something, Dorn, turns it right side up in Red's hands. No, no, that's musical notation.

Oh, oh, sorry. Oh, right. Music. Yeah. It's the way... That's what the flute. plays. Or it should

anyway. How does this one go? And he points to one called the sweet elven lady. Ooh, play that one, Jack. Okay, here I go. I'll give my best flute.

Okay, no, let me try again. So, you know, coming along. Say, I've been wondering what this is. Red hops up. unable to stay still, and walks over to the stone sort of outcropping that you mentioned,

the little sort of half cave in the water. And it just seems a little bit, obviously it's natural, but I wonder if anyone's camped here before Trenneros said they had, right? And Red looks towards Treneros. He nods gravely at you. I wonder if there's any, like, you know, remnants of an ancient fire or something. Huh? Jack? In my experience, fires preserve fairly poorly

And anything after a handful of seasons You know, the specifics wash away But maybe we'll find, you know, an old belt buckle Or a button or something That's come off somebody's clothes if we dig around I'm not opposed to playing in the dirt before dinner Yeah, yeah It's nice to keep him busy before we eat

Otherwise he gets sleepy Oh, I know He gets so grumpy You guys make my dinner I'm going to go play in the dirt Jack's a toddler No no only one song in front of company And then you can go play in the dirt

Until you can go play a song Dance Jack and Red go over to this Stone formation To do a little investigation station Absolutely Yeah and Red's doing it for Jack Like he knows you know

He's just like Ah this could be a bone You know what? It doesn't matter that Red's not interested. Jack is telling him exactly the steps textbook, how you go and assess, okay, if we see any signs of previous campfires here, what do we see? If we gently remove the first layer of detritus, what are we going to see underneath that? Like he's... Reds regretting it instantly. He's like, oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll make you regret this. A four-syllable word, every third word. Oh, no, but then knowing that it's a four-syllable word, I'll stop and define each one of them just to make sure red doesn't get lost.

Yeah, detritus. Just the sort of stuff that might, you know, rot over time as we're sifting through here. Right. Like a stick. Sure, a stick is great, detritus. Roll an investigation check. I would love to. I got a 26. Jack, you uncover a couple of links of very bad, rusted chain mail

left by someone who is probably repairing their armor here as well as a little bit of very, very old graffiti seemingly scratched into the bare stone wall a list of names.

Hey, look at this. Hi. Come here for everybody. There's some names on the wall here. Come on. Let's go. Well, hello. I mean, just out of the tradition Marie's cooking. She's like, give me a minute. You just left a rabbit sitting here on this fire. It'll be fine. It'll be fine, Marie.

We've sat by many a fire cooking. Doran Lake grabs Marry's shoulder. Come on, this is exciting. He's found something. You know what this means. Yeah, there's some names here. This one says Cleon, Cleon, something? Jack carefully traces each one with his finger, leaving an illusion showing the name like glowing and lit

as we go through the list of names. It only takes a few before you recognize. These are the Knights of the Eternal Order. Jackson, Kralath. Hey, Trenneros, it looks like your name's here, too. They camped here. Are they buried here? No.

There's not a lot of evidence of that. It just looks like they may be made camp here. Doren, put the wine skin down. You know, we're on a pilgrimage We're on a pilgrimage to go to the place they left their souls. This might be the last thing these people wrote where they had a soul in their chest. Wow. It's kind of sad in the way.

Jack picks up his pick and goes to a blank spot on the wall. I guess it's tradition and starts to carve in Jack Page. Hey, Red pulls at his ghost dagger and scratches in. Red-handed Robin and like the R's are backwards. Dorn goes to lean in and then looks back at Mari and he says, is it a D or a C?

Please, I insist. Too many good lines. What's your name again? Dorn with a D or? How much you write mine for me? How do you spell fists? I know how to spell it. I'd like to see if you can.

Yeah, Mari goes over and with the flower dagger, she starts to carve like her name. She starts to carve her name in. And as she does that, these petals and flat little tiny daisies fall out of the wall as she goes. And once she's done, she scoops up all the little flowers that have fallen there and puts them underneath the names of the people from the order and leaves them there like an offering.

Doran leans down and grabs Jack's little pickax. and he puts Doren, iron, fist. But it's surprisingly neat and very much looking like Dwarven Runes would. It's like well-aligned. Mine would have looked nicer if it was wood. I just, you know, the stone is so rough. As you finish carving your names into the stone wall,

red, you see Captain Trenier, walk over and kneel down beside the names that Jack has outlined in arcane light. And slowly he puts a hand beside each name and whispers, Jackson, Spencer, Rowena, Greyloff, Deandra, Thorne, Cleon. He bows his head solemnly. And then stands back up and walks off into the forest. Thank you to our wonderful patrons, Ace. Abriel, Adam Fry, Alicia Andrus, Allison writes, Alicia Daugh, Amanda Nicole,

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