Dice Shame - 37 | 'Back on Track'

Episode Date: June 25, 2020

The team ends their side adventure and heads back to town to refocus on the Giant problem... Comedy, action and a whole lot of shaming come together in Dice Shame, an Actual Play Podcast of Storm King's Thunder by Wizards of the Coast! Join our GM Jo; her partner Harlan, his brother Alex & their best friends Justin and Rob as they tackle the daunting world of Faerun in this legendary adventure module! Dice Shame is a podcast that welcomes its audience to the gaming table. Like the games they play at home, they try not to take themselves too seriously. The show aims to be entertaining, inclusive, and irreverent, while still taking the rules (somewhat) seriously. Join us every Thursday morning for brand new episodes available on all major platforms including; Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and more! If you haven't checked it out yet... what are you waiting for?!? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I am the cleric. If I didn't already kind of hate these people, I might like them. I know like small folk. Next up on Jack's Antique Roadshow. Come on, shit, fart. He looks at both of you like he's actually angry. She's the worst. All right, okay, I'm gonna go and take care.

I'm just but a simple bard. Are those scones I smell? I mean, you don't get 38 damage in one hit that almost kills you without walking away scarred. Welcome back to Dice Shane, episode 37, back on track. MVP this week is Caleb from Discord. Thanks for joining us, Caleb. He found us on Reddit and became a fast fan. If you're enjoying Dice Shane, please leave us a review, whether it be on iTunes, Hubble, Podchaser.

Reviews help tremendously with people finding us, and it makes us feel pretty good. Are we ready to do this? Yeah, I think so. I'm so late to this party, metaphorically, that the beer is all flat, the floors are sticky, everyone's gone home, is how late I am to this party. Well, that's an appealing picture. What party? I've been playing a lot of Skyrim this week.

Oh, you're like 10 years late. I know. Literally. It was like 2011. So late. Joey, you're still ahead of me. Don't worry. You got it.

Rob, you haven't played it yet? It's so good, Rob. It's a whole other thing. It's so much like D&D. D. Right now I'm pretending that I'm playing as Gandalf's great, great, great, great, grandniece or something. That's super cute. I'm doing like a mage who also is like proficient one-handed with her sword. What's your character's name?

Nice. Dreen of Cedar. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah, I just like to spice up my character a little bit, get a little bit of like internal backstory just from my brain. I don't think she knows that she's, like, related to Gandalf at all. Oh, so you've gone like deep into the backstory to the point where like you've also connected how she doesn't understand she's part. Yeah, yeah. Well, we were watching

the Hobbit recently and the dwarves I mean obviously they're so important to that story but then in Lord of the Rings they really don't feature it at all and to me I was thinking like oh maybe this world that Tolkien invented is like the antecedent of

Skyrim because dwarves are a footnote in history like you can go to their to their like abandoned fortresses but the race doesn't exist They're so forgotten that they're actually called Doomer instead. They're like, what was that name? Someone with a D. I don't fucking know.

This is called them Doomer. So you're not a sneak archer. I'm not a sneak archer. That's Harleys. Everyone's a sneak archer in Skyrim. Because it's so OOP. No. I started out doing Krayloff and then it's just like, oh, Krayloff uses a bow now.

Exactly. And he's in the shadow gild. No, man. I like to try and switch it up. So I'm a mage who's still proficient with a sword. She's not loving it. the way we do subconsciously as gamers, where we're like, we'll play something a bit

role-playing-wise, and then I'm like, okay, but this weapon's better. I'm going to start using it. At first I was like, okay, what's a host, Carl? I don't need this lackey to follow me around. Like, Lydia, whoever, and then now she's my best friend. Of course. Lydia, no! Don't step on that trigger

and golf yourself in flame. She's my friend. Friend pack mule. Alex, you played Skyrim, haven't you? Yes. So you're at least on the train. So only Rob hasn't been. I've got the impression that Skyrim's a little bit self-directed in that there's a million different little side quests you could go on.

Yes. Oh, it's so frustrating. I can do in a game like Mass Effect where there's a little bit of branching, but it's also like, hey, go do a Star Trek adventure over here, come back to the ship, chatter out, whatever you did. There's a bit of a more of a hub, I think. And when I get on a game that's like Skyrim or something, I just spider out in a million ways and then lose momentum and lose my connection to the main thrust of, wait, but aren't I had Dragonborn? How many squashes do I need to go get? Yeah, I'm not a dragonborn in this recent one that I'm doing. I agree to an extent because I have played games like The Witcher and even Fallout, and I feel overwhelmed.

However, for some reason, and I really don't know why, I've never felt that way in Skyroom. Yeah. And I don't know what they did, what level of kind of storyline they created, but I've never sincerely felt overwhelmed in Skyrim. I've never felt that there are so many things that I just don't know which to tackle or how to tackle. I think because I've always been interested enough in one thing specifically that it's driving me. And when that's complete, I always have a number two on my list. Like, I don't know. I think it's just really well written.

Yeah, I think it's something to do with the way the game's made. I just walk up to somebody and when they're like, oh, do you want to do a quest? I like back out of it. I don't even answer. So it doesn't come up on my list of things to do. I'm like, I don't, I want like three or four things and that's it. I'm going to really complete. Right now I'm following the thieves.

Guild or something like this. Speaking of having four or five things on your list of things that you want to do in games, you guys have a lot of things going on. Yeah, we've got so many things going on. Absolutely. We've got like cool band stuff. I need to clean the kitchen. Oh, yeah, at the house.

Do my laundry. Doran doesn't like having multiple things on his plate here. He likes to focus on one item. It's a really focused craftsman. Yeah. Yes, that's right. That being said, we still have the mystery of this house. Well, I mean, I've got all these ledgers that we found in a locked box.

Oh, is that what they are, those black books? Yeah, I can comprehend some languages and see if we can figure out what's going on in there with the rest of these cultists who are up to. Sure, we've got lots of time for a ritual. Yeah. You are able to decipher what's inside these three slim black leather-bound books. Black is very slimmy. It is.

These ledgers outline the legitimate business dealings of the hamperat. Villa. Looks like they're mostly art dealers. They have recent dealings with merchants in Waterdeep, Bryn Schander, and Everland. It's heavy in vases. Honestly, it's exactly my kind of details. It's like, oh, art dealers, if I didn't already kind of hate these people, I might like them. There's definitely parts of this that Jack's going to scroll away for his own, like, oh, if I'm ever in Everland, who are these people dealing with? Yeah, who are supplying the vases? Yeah, you know, keys to their art object empire. Yeah.

You guys also had quite a bit of time yesterday in between helping fixing up the villa with Thalas, the kid. To spend some time with your magic items, you found a lot of interesting things. Yes. We got the magical pipes, the mace, the shield. Yeah, who's interested in what right now? I'm going to take a bite of those pipes. Wait? Take a bite of them?

Yeah, I would probably look at the pipes. I mean, being the most musical of the group, he says, looking at Creelot's tambourine. And looking at Oren. And Oren. The bard. It's not going to do it. Orens. But I would.

I would sleep with the magical pipes and wake up feeling that I know them better. Yeah. Just like real life. Okay. So these are pipes of haunting. Ooh. And this may put a little bit of a damper on things, but you must be proficient with wind instruments to use these pipes. They have three charges.

You can play them as an action. to create a spell-binding tune where each creature within 30 feet of you would need to make a wisdom-saving throw or be frightened for a minute. Wow. Hey, Orrin, do you, um, are you proficient with woodwinds? Of course I am, Mr. Red. Here you go, and I throw the magic items, like, just toss them at him. No, catch the... He ducks. And Doran catches them. Here, Red, please. Be careful with this stuff. And he hands the pipes to... Orin. He puts them to his mouth like he's about to play them. No, no, no, no, no, not yet. They're pipes of haunting. So when you play them, you get to do some

magic. Just be careful. It makes you useful. Yes. Can't have that. I think useful in a mechanical sense, not in a narrative sense. Kralath is drawn to the shield naturally, and he sits down with it and admires it and preys with it and meditates on it, then uses it as a toboggan a little bit. Oh, good. Yeah, that's actually how you attuned to this shield is tobogging with it. It's not until the tobogganing happens that you actually attuned to it. You're like, aha.

When you trust it with your life for real, going down that steep hill, the snow splattering in your face. That's when you really feel like you. What the hell is snow? How long have we been here? That's how Legolas tests shields, just like throws it downstairs and lands like, okay, that's a good sheet. Downstairs. Lord of the Rings classic going on. As you spend an hour.

Attuning to this item, you recognize this to be a plus one shield of revival. If you die while wearing this shield having an equipped, you are instantly revived with one hit point. Oh, man. Crayleth, I can't imagine how you would ever use that shield. Definitely not for you, Krayloff. Give it now. Well, see, that's the thing. Do we give it to the healer?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Always yes. Okay. You always give it to the healer. Not only do you go down the most, but you're the most.

important person to stay up. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, exactly, which means, if you go down, you can come back and revive another person if they have fallen. Always you. Is it a single use, or is it, uh, yeah, it's just once. Let's put it this way. The first time you die while you're holding the shield, you revived with one HP. Awesome. Now, if I use up my charge and then give it to Doran, does he get a, a free revival?

Yeah, I think so. Interesting. So, like, Doran's at, like, one HP, and just like, here, take my shield. Unless we fill a soul stone. But you'd have to attune to it. Oh, right. I think it would be one use per user. Interesting.

Oh, my God, my dreams are coming true. It's the sisterhood of the traveling pants. Traveling shields. The sisterhood of the traveling shield. Pants shields. Okay. What about this mace? Who wants to attune to the mace to find out what it does?

I wouldn't mind attuding to it just to try it out. Let's see. Let's see what happens. Sure. And I kind of picture this happening. I'm looking at it and as this blacksmith, I'm going, this mace, its craftsmanship is not that unique. However, it's got some pretty incredible points to it. It's like the things that the blacksmith notices is that it's like deceiving to the eye.

It's funny that you should say that because this is a plus one mace of deception. Oh, good eye, Dorn. That's actually very interesting. So you become proficient in deception as a skill. Wow. If you are already proficient in this skill, you add double your proficiency bonus to deception checks. Additionally, it sheds light. If you remember, it was inside of the angel statue.

So as an action, its wielder can extinguish or light to the mace. And it sheds bright light in a five-foot radius and dim light for another five feet. That is the coolest weapon I've ever heard of indeed. That's so cool. So like the edges, maybe they're a little bit dull. but when you step back, it's almost like a ghostly shadow that makes the edges look super pointy.

But as you get up close and as you touch them, they're not, like, you know, they're still sharp, but they're just not as perfect as they looked. It's funny. When I described the item at first,

I said that there were blades on the end of it, and I think that totally makes sense. It looks like it's a bladed weapon, but it is actually just something that you hit someone really hard with. I love the idea, too, that it's always just perfectly lit.

It's like the perfect Instagram mace every time just because it sheds its own light and all the right. You know, like it's just, it looks great. You can apply filters. Yeah. So. I'm okay giving it up because it is less damage. You said it's a 1d6. Yeah, it's a 1d6.

I mean, it would definitely be a boost to me. Are you proficient in deception? I am not proficient in deception. But there was all that lying with the dragon guy. Like I think there's a play for like, it would be interesting to see Krayloth pick up this mace and like lean into that. side of himself that pulled out this like, oh, I need to steal this manuscript from this or talk this guy out of this manuscript.

I mean, he is the grave cleric. It's a bit of a more darker, I think Kralath should take the mace than the shield. I think so too. And then you can get rid of your non-magical mace. Yeah, give it to Oren. Here, Oren, gung. Ow!

Yeah. Orin, you've got to start catching better. Plath of adventuring is catching stuff red throws at you. So as we're sort of attuning and doing all this discovering of the magical items, you walk into the living room and spread out on the table is all of the loot and the gear that we have taken from the house. And Red is just like finishing counting up.

There we go. So after Zolkenshare, we got a fair amount of money and stuff left. Jack, what do you want to do with some of these art objects? I'm thinking we leave the tapestries and the rugs since, you know, this is now the base of the Nightstone Four. But some of these doodads, maybe take a look at them and we can sell them when we head back to Beliart. Yeah, I think there's good to find the right buyer for some of those if we plan on selling them. They're really lovely pieces. I think, you know, they're displayed really nice. As much as the hamperats are, you know, as awful as they were. They do have an eye for art. Hump rocks. Except for that statue. You know, you were right to break the Wax statue. I'm not going to

hold that. I've been waiting to hear you say that. You read, sometimes you've just got good instincts and it takes me a minute to catch up. Wack statue to me always sounds like a song like a brass monkey. Wack statue! The funky statue. I see these two jewelry boxes, a bone one, and this one looks like a lectrum. They look pretty exciting. What do I know about them?

Yeah, absolutely. So the bone jewelry box is worth 10 gold pieces. And this is absolutely more than 100 years old, actually. This is probably made three centuries ago. And it looks like it could have been made by a barbarian artist. You remember having read about the artisans of the Thunderbeast tribe? Right. They're one of the Uthgart tribes.

Yeah. There is a renowned artisan from the lost Thunderbeast tribe named Megani the Shepherd. Oh, Red. This may have been one of her works. This is stunning. So Magani the Shepherd was this Thunderbeast tribe barbarian. She crafted all these really cool objects. Some of the coolest pieces we've I've ever seen.

Yeah? It's hard to tell, but this may have been crafted from Dragonbone. This is over 300 years old and might be Dragonbone. You're only going to get 10 gold from it from an untrained die, but I've already started a bit of a collection with this Elk Uthgard utensil. It might be, maybe just put that one in my share. I'll pay the party for it. I might be starting a private collection.

Sounds good. Next up on Jack's Antique Road Show. Look at this Electrum Box. Jack's Antich Road Show. You know it, man. Well, I was honestly thinking I've got this flashback in the future of potential adventure starters where Jack curates a show and we host like a bunch of like hoity-toity elites and dukes and things to check out his collection. This wonderful piece was found in the Northwest section. At some point we're going to need to go to war and a fundraiser to fund that war might be a thing we need to throw in Waterdeep.

Or that and a big sale. Sure, of course. Keep it. Jack, I love how inspired and excited you get by all this bullshit. So here's this Electrum box. This one looks a little fancier, a little maybe gaudy for my taste. It's also more than 100 years old and came from the area around Luscan. You think it could have belonged to the collection of one Marvin Vontaner.

Jack, do you have an erection? Well, you know, I do get a weird association with hands from this box. Yeah, it's a really lovely electrum box from Luskin, Marvin von Tanner, a very fancy Electrum Smith. You don't hear about Electrum Smith is very often, but... No, you don't. Can I look at that? It looks like this.

Workmanship is a bit crazy. Whoever made this is a bit bonkers. The Electrum box has pictures of weird clawed hands all over. Every surface has got a different finger. It honestly looks like a lot of work, but I'm a little uncomfortable looking at it. I like it. You're going to sell this one, do you think? Oh, for sure.

You're not keeping it. Yeah, I think this one has more widespread appeal than the other. If we were going to sell one, I think this is the, I certainly don't need to keep this one. And then there's this cameo in the necklace. Are you okay if I sell them? Oh, yeah. Look, there's a tressum on there. They're really lovely pieces, but we got to fund the war effort, man.

Jack's eyes linger on the trussum for a second. You know, it's true. There's a part of me that's like, oh, fuck, I got to go get Kieran back. That's like leaving this, seeing that tressum, there's just like a lingering finger on the cameo before he walks away to go find some charcoal and incense and herbs to spend an hour. What are you talking about, Jack? He's right here. And I bend down and I pick up the fucking house tressum. Isn't this curate?

Nope. You also found a very curious box in this mansion, a puzzle box. And on the table as well. the infernal puzzle box. I would love to investigate the hell out of that. Yeah, I'm really curious, too. I think Red is just going to be there with Jack. Okay.

If you want to spend one hour holding this puzzle box and trying to open it, you can make an investigation check to try to see if you can accomplish that. I do. Hey, Red, do you want to help me investigate this? Absolutely. Do we get to roll with Advantage? Can we both put our hands on it? Can we, like, be holding it together?

Yeah, both. So, Jack, why don't you roll with Advantage? And we'll see what happens. So I rolled a 19, and my investigate is 7, so 26. I also rolled a 4, so that advantage really helped. You fail to deduce the secrets that are hidden within this box. You are not able to open it. In fact, both of you please make a wisdom save for me.

Oh, shit. I'm going to use Christopher for this. 11. 12. At least we're in this together, buddy. You know, it's nice not to be alone. Curiosity killed what? Who?

Huh? You each take 38 points of psychic damage. Holy shit. I have five hit points. Holy shit. I have four hit points. Oh, my God. So Red just gets blasted back from this thing.

Blood is leaking from his nose and his ears. And he's like, yeah! And he literally turns around and runs in the wall because his head is in so much pain and he falls over. Yeah, I don't think Jack physically moves. there's just this that like not there when he goes to kieran he's just not there at the moment his ears are ringing his his eyes are you know watering he's just everything is leaking off his face it's not good i'm picturing the mundanity of the situation like it's all calm and quiet and kreeloth is looking at his reflection in the shield and like hey look i can see myself he's making like funny

faces and doran's picking something out of his teeth i was just about to say picking my teeth yeah That's that weird And then boom You hear a noise from somewhere in the house And you come into the room And you just see the box Lying at Jack's feet Jack's standing there

Stoic and Red on the ground With some blood coming out of his like Nose and ears like five feet away Call him for Preserve Me Holy shit What's going on here? Do you guys have a fight? What's happened?

I have some theories That puzzle box it's We tried to open it in Wow My God. I mean, I'm at five hit points. I'm on, like, my last legs. Yeah, no, I'm on death door. Kraloff immediately walks over and he grabs the box. No, don't, don't touch it. Maybe. Don't touch it.

And he looks at it. I'm going to hold onto this for a while. Yes. Put it in the bag of holding. No, I'm holding on to this. And he stashes it away. He looks at both of you, like he's actually angry. And he says, I can't believe. gather round, gather around. Come on. And he's going to cast prayer of healing.

Red, like, crawls across the floor. He's kind of shaking. You both don't look good at all. Yeah, so, like, I'll kneel down and tend to you guys and wipe the blood from your brow and the blood coming out of your ear, Jack. I'm sorry, Kralath. We didn't even think about it. It's just, God, it felt like something was in my brain.

I could feel fire and... It didn't seem magical like that. It was just a puzzle block. Weird. I've never felt damage like that before. And similar to Doran's scar on his eye, I feel like Jack and Red have a scar, but like a mental. Psychic scar?

Yeah, but what's kind of nice about it too, as Jack and Red are continually to kind of build up that friendship, is this is like a shared experience that the two of them, I mean, you don't get 38 damage in, one hit that almost kills you without walking away scarred. What if there's just a reflection of the box in our eye? Like if you look really close in our left eye, you can still see a reflection of the puzzle. I like that. That's cool. That's awesome.

From this point forward, the puzzle box, until it is opened, might have a lingering shadow in your psyche where you are compelled to know its secrets. I like that too. I'm just glad that you're both okay. All right. So I think we now, we now, have divvied the treasure. We now have taken a moment for ourselves. We've attuned with these items. I think we sort of gather, relax in the living room. And when we left Belliard last night, Jack and I, we were doing some giant sort of, you know, looking around and understanding where they were. And I think now that this has sort of become a safer place, we talk about the bigger

question once again. And I think Jack and I probably actually tell them, you know, when we were in Belliard, Jack and I were making sure we could keep track of all the giants in the area with my primeval awareness. And we did notice that there were some giants to the south of Beliard that one specifically wasn't moving. I think that's our next move to investigate. I agree. Yeah, that's where you think their headquarters is. Well, I mean, ultimately we did roll into Belliard and we said that we would try to tackle the issue. This is the best lead we have right now. And with this house sort of being secure and everything that we've gained weighing heavily in our pockets, maybe we should head back to Belyard, sell it, and then head south towards the Giants.

I do agree. I think we should go back to Belyard, get ourselves back in order. I feel like I could go for a bit of a rest because I haven't really slept very well this past couple of days. And we have paid for that room in Belyard. Maybe it'll let us honor it from yesterday. Did you want to stay the night in Belyard tonight? You know what? Yeah, I think we've done everything we can here. We've spent time fixing up the house. Thalas feels sort of more at home here. We have our loot. I'm thinking we should head back to Belliard, sell the stuff, sleep, and then start in the morning off to that giant. Well, I'll tell you, it's going to feel good to get on the road again. Even though we were on the road just yesterday, it feels like it's been ages since we've been actually going somewhere, you know? I know. Telling me. Hey, kid. And Doran gets Thalas's attention. You're going to be okay here.

on your own, you know, watching over this place, you're not too concerned about someone coming back. I think I'll be okay. Well, we might stop in here from time to time, I mean. I hope so. I'll get lonely without you. I'll make sure there's some help coming from the town to help you clean up the place. You can't build walls of stone by yourself.

And just make sure that no matter what, you've always got some, those kegs. At least one keg ready for us, all right? And maybe stock the pantry back up. All right. Okay. I'm going to get ready to get going. Take care. Good luck, Thalas. We'll see you again. Hey, Thalas. Stay safe. Bye now. Keep it cool.

Don't take off your face mask. Don't take off your face mask when you're going in public, okay? All right. And I think we head back to Belliard with loot in tow and our bellies and hearts full. You pass by the fenced fields here that lead to Belliard. the cropped autumn grasses and you arrive back in town just past nightfall. People are lighting candles

and lanterns in their windows and you see the watchful night, the place where you had stayed the, I guess, two nights ago. Kralath, I've been thinking about something. You got a minute? Yeah, yeah, sure. Oh, Dorn and I will go sell this loot

and we head off to the general store just to sort of convert everything to gold. And then we'll go get a pint of something. What's up? I got this letter of credit for my dad for my birthday, and I feel kind of weird spending it. I don't really know what to do with it. But I'm thinking maybe, like, if we could find somebody trustworthy in Belliard, maybe we could put this gold towards looking after Thalas in that house.

That's quite a considerate use for birthday money. I'd want it to be somebody trustworthy, because it's a lot. Any Baker is trustworthy, let me tell you. Any Baker's trustworthy. That's what I think. Kralat, you've got to trust your gut. Okay, well then in that case, let's go talk to the baker. As you head over the very short walk to the bakery,

you see a woman in the front window who seems to be cleaning things down for the night. The door is still unlocked, but there are no customers inside. And I nudge Jack in the side. There you go. You got a good feeling about her? I roll insight. Natural 20 on Liferless. No fucking way.

For real. So that's, yeah, 25, 6th. Yeah, I mean, she's probably stressed out about family situation or other concerns. She doesn't look overworked, put it that way. And she looks up as you enter the shop. Oh, hello. Hail, madam. I'm sorry, I'm just closing up.

We apologize for coming here so late, but we're not going to be here tomorrow. You see, we're going down south to hopefully take care of. this giant problem that has been facing your town. You don't say, and she puts down the rag that she was using to clean things up, gives you a full attention now. It's actually more about the town than the giants why we're here. You know the hamperate house a little ways from here? I do, yes.

Recently, they were all attacked, and the former executives of the house are out of the picture. And now there's this boy, Thalas, who's left with the house in a shambles all by himself. No. We've got some money. We can see this town could use a boost to the economy recently. We want to help put everybody back to work. Thalus is just a kid and I'm not sure he could organize the sort of thing we're thinking. But this is a letter of credit for a thousand gold that we would like to help people get back to work by building that house together by, you know, bringing food in from water deep or wherever else to sort of share around. She looks at you suspiciously. Kraloth rolling over your insight check. This seems to be a woman you can read fairly well. She has never been given something like this in her life before and is distrustful of positive gestures. I admit, this sounds nuts. We're going on Krayloff's guts as bakers are trustworthy, and that's why we stopped here.

It's a gamble for us, it's a gamble for you, but we'd love for you to sort of be the executor of Hamper Red House. I'm Jack Page. I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself before we made it this offer. I feel... Here's a thousand gold. Like we've done this business deal all backwards. Yes, and my name is Kraloth. Charmed.

I'm Vethed Dantamovie. Gentlemen, this seems like too good to be true, frankly. My family's been very negatively affected by both the weather and the goings-on with the giant attacks, and it seems like the winter's going to be a bad one from what I can tell. I would be stupid to deny a request such as this. I guess all I have to say is Thank you This town has long needed

Benevolent investors such as yourselves And I promise you I will do right by this trust Take care of yourselves Are those scones I smell So you guys end up Back at the watchful night Where you see your two companions Red and Doran curled up in a booth together

with the remnants of their tankards clutched in their hands and they're fast asleep. All right, morning breaks. It's a nice day, actually. It's warmer than you would expect for the middle of Marpinoff. And here we are. In Belliard, what would you like to do? So we mentioned that there is the giant to the south of town,

and I think now that it is past, I'm going to wake up and do my primeval wear. the five mile radius and just ensure the giant that sort of jumped out to jack and i was the one that wasn't really moving around it seemed to be pretty stationary is it still in its spot it is so i'm going to wake the others and say and red's already like decked out like he's ready to travel and he's standing up and he's like all right guys the giant is still there which means we have a lead let's finish up things in town and head off yeah i'm ready to go all right or in uh crawls out of bed where he was burrowed with the blankets up around his ears and he wipes his bleary eyes.

Did you want me to come with you, master? No, you know what? Look, I think it makes sense for you to stay here for the time being. If this is where the giants are living, it's going to be pretty combat-centric. Why don't you stay here with the horses? We'll go in on foot. And worst-case scenario, if we need your help, we'll just come back and grab you. As long as you promise to be safe.

No! Danger is my middle name! Speaking of which, I've been working on a song. Would you like to hear it? Uh, yes. I would love to hear a song. We'd love to hear it. Maybe invite Kieran, who we summoned yesterday,

come hang out in my lap for a minute while we sit and listen. Everyone's like brushing their hair, getting ready for the day, and Oren picks up the mandolin and sings, The Knights don't for, champions and more, encountered a ghost from their past. Zolkin the snake Convinced them to take Vases and tapestries from an abandoned mansion

The place stunk of wealth We entered with stealth Except for that time We blew up a cabinet of wine And under the ground The champions found The workings and altar of a weird demon cult Oh, wow, very good, Doran.

That's your best song yet. Sounds like you put way more effort and thought into that than all of your previous songs. Thank you. Thank you, Master Doran. I'm just but a simple bard. But I did promise you that if you allowed me to follow you along on your journey, that I'd make you into real heroes. You earned it, buddy.

You coward better than all of them. Yeah, be sure to sing that around town a couple times. Yeah. Yes. get a little bit of pomp and circumstance about the Nightstone Four. You know, we're going to go play some giants. And since you're not coming with us to fight these giants, or at least investing these giants,

I'll make sure to try and keep some notes and bring them back to you so you can continue to write these wonderful songs about our adventures. He pops off the bed, walks over, and holds your hands in his, and he looks deep in your eyes and says, Master Doran, I would love that. Oh, Dorian Sursa blush. Don't forget to work on that one about me slaying a giant with one arrow.

All right, boys, just so we're all on the same page. We think, based on what we've found on the giants through my primeval awareness and, talking to people in town, there is a tower, an old wizard's tower, far off into the woods. I think we should head out that way and speak or kill the giant inside. Let's saddle up and head out. And I say we do that kind of right in the middle of town where people watch us. And it's a bit of a spectacle. You know, these adventures. Oh, like riding off.

You got, we get these horses. No. Yeah. We get our horses ready. And, you know, we're all, like, you know, armored up and we look cool. Yeah, we're going to go kill a hill giant. Bye, people. So you head out of town.

You take the road south. And we make quick pace. You take the Deseran Road South of the. bell yard. And you travel for about an hour. You spot a crumbling tower atop a hill less than a quarter mile away. It's just east of the road. Crumbling tower over there. Part of its conical roof and outer shell have fallen inward, leaving a gaping hole above which four hawks circle. I'm going to do my primeval awareness to see if there are any more beyond the tower. There's a giant in the tower. Beyond where you stand, there is another giant.

to the southeast of you, five miles. But no big congregation. Nope. There is a giant inside. Let's kill it. I think we need to do exactly what we did with the fire giant. I think we need to be very thoughtful about questioning this thing when it is done, especially if there is a high volume of hill giants in this area.

And I think we should try to get as close as we can. I'm going to cast Pass Without Trace on all of us, which gives us a plus 10 to our dexterity. Stealth checks. Okay. Perhaps if we kill this, no, let me rephrase, when we kill this giant, maybe this is the lair and we can set a trap for the next giant that comes back, save ourselves a bit of time and energy.

Why don't you send Kieran, see if she can't get amongst those crows and look in through the top? Kieran, do you want to go take a look around? Maybe not pretend to be one of those hawks, just in case they're serving this thing and can attack you, but somewhere that if we see them dive bomb you, we'll get you out of there. Okay, sure, boss. If you get a peek inside, that'd be great. So you're going to send Kieran up and over the land toward this tower to circle amongst these birds.

I don't think to circle amongst, just to try and land on the tower and peek inside the roof just to see what's going on in there. If I see the hawks try and like hassle Kieran or something, I will I will poof them out of existence and back somewhere near us. Yeah, as soon as Kieran lands on the roof of this. tower, all four of those hawks dive on them. As soon as I see the hawks, like, react, I poke here out of existence and back somewhere near us. Catch anything interesting? No. I couldn't get close enough. Those birds look vicious. Can I roll a nature check on those hawks to see if they're different? Something seems very

odd about them. Sure. No, five. Yeah, you've never seen these birds before. Maybe it's a local thing. Oh, a local thing. I know, I know nature. 18? These are blood hawks. Oh, those are blood hawks. They're extremely aggressive and territorial. They'll probably attack whoever gets close.

They've made quite a lot of noise as well. I could just pick them off. Yeah, but not from here. I mean, we could definitely move up to 600 feet and I could pick them off. That was, yeah, that's more where I was going. Good idea. Let's go. And yeah, we'll stealth up and get to about 600 feet away.

Roll stealth checks. So again, this is plus 10 to everybody. Oh, natural 20. Wow. 28 for me. Okay. 14 for Kralov. 28 for me as well.

36. The Bloodhawks circle above this old ruined tower. They don't seem to have noticed you. Ooh. Nice. So I am going to take a sneaky attack. I mean, it's not sneaky attack, but I guess a surprise round. Yeah, because you are hidden from your quarry.

You get to roll with advantage. And can I help at all in any way? Maybe act. There's like something to steady his arm. He's already attacking with advantage. Well, if I stand right in front of him, he can nards his arm on top of him. I think it's adorable.

You can get adorable points. Well, first things first, I'm going to cast blast on you. As you have stealthily closed the distance between yourself and the tower, maybe about five or ten minutes pass by from when Kieran initially landed on the roof of this, tower. While you are standing and discussing your buffs and your dwarf propping actions, you begin to hear a sound coming from the tower. It's the wandering giant. It is a deep guttural

dirge coming from the lips of something huge and horrible. We're still going to do a surprise round on the Hawks, I believe. Okay. So roll initiative. Red? 17. Doren? A 12. Kraloth? 13. Jack. Ten. Okay, so red. You're top of the order. What do you do? I am going to attack one of the hawks. 18 to hit?

Yes. 10 damage. You kill it. It falls from the sky in a shower of feathers. And we decided you're like 600 feet away. Yeah. And I will attack again without sharpshooter. Yeah, 25 to hit.

You hit? Four damage. You hit one, but it stays in the air. Kralath? Kralat's going to cast aid. He's going to cast aid as a level three spell. So the three of you get plus 10 to your HP. I have other ways of getting HP myself too.

Thank you. Doran, it's your turn. I will use my combat superiority to give Harlan plus three damage. Take another shot for me. Thanks, buddy. I like that this is like sniper. It's real quiet too.

Hit the one that's not injured. Sure. I mean 25. And it's going to do eight damage. You kill it. It falls out of the sky. guy. Jack? Jack is listening really carefully to this big sonorous dirge that whatever is inside that tower is singing as it echoes through these stones and like funneled out. As soon as

one of the birds gets murdered, it stops. The sound stops. While it was happening, did I pick up any words in the song? Did I pick up any intonations that sounded magical? Can I learn anything from that song. Roll insight, please. Love to. 15. That's the sound of a giant crying. Really? Hmm. I'd frame this differently. Yeah. Any type of giant or... You can't tell. Baby giant. All right. That was a giant crying that just stopped. Hmm. Maybe it doesn't like the hawks either. Perhaps. Did it start after the first one went down? The crying started after you guys had spent some time traveling towards the tower. And once you got in position and sort of hanging out, then the sound started. I think maybe once these hawks are dead, we should hide because we have passed without a trace and then let it start crying again before, you know what I mean?

Like see what it was doing? Right, it's your turn. I will fire at the last two, the first of the one that I've already damaged. And that is a hit, five damage. You kill it. It explodes in a shower of feathers and blood. And I'll attack the last one, which is a 19 hit. Uh-huh.

And that is going to be 15 days. There was never a hawk. It dies. Perfect. And then I think I'm going to put my bow down, turn to the others, and just say, let's just hang out a minute. I'm curious what that crying was. Kralath is going to squint his eyes and peer up to the top of this tower, pulls his night goggles, like, up higher on his head, and is just going to do a perception check? 13 to see if he can see anything in the, like, kind of opening.

As you spend some time examining this tower, you see that there is a large boulder rolled up and leaning on one of the rocks of its foundation. Oh, there's a boulder up there. It might be a trap. Stare clear of that. Karen, do you want to go take another look now that there's no hawks to bug you? Not really, but I will. Thanks, Kieran.

They take to the sky, do a reluctant circle of the party, and then slowly flap toward this old tower. Unhindered by Bloodhawks, Kieran does a lazy circle of the tower, and then slowly returns. There's a giant in there, boss. What kind of giant? It's a hill giant.

All right. Anything distinctive about it that you saw? First woman I've ever seen. I think we've got to approach. It's a hill giant woman in there. Did they say it was an adult? As far as Kieran could tell. Let's take a closer look.

Do you have to see to send a message? I mean, no. Maybe if we get within 120 feet, you can just say, you know, are you okay? Hello? You know, maybe before we approach. Sure. Just in case. I mean, it's still a giant.

Yeah, let's get within 120 feet. So you guys stealth? Yeah, we'll stealth forward. Why don't you roll stealth check? Group check. Are we adding into this 10? Oh, shit. Natural one from Kraloff.

No shit. Natural one from Jack. What? Yeah. No. Yeah. For shame. Two at the same time.

Yep. We're just a couple of moose. Yeah, it's like 13. It's still 13 and what? 10. Very sad. A very sad role. 34 for me still.

And 19. So Doran and Red stealthily approached the old tower while Kralath and Jack somehow trip on each other and fall down screaming. Oh. Okay. You stay, you hang out 120 feet away. Maybe there's like a tusic of grass that you all. fold yourself in and amongst. Yeah, and I'll pull out my crystal orb, and I will whisper to it,

um, hello, are you okay? And that message disappears into the ether to be heard only by the ears of the giant woman inside. In giant. In giant. The giant woman inside. Everyone hears, huh? Huh?

Are you hungry? Mook, hungry. Mook. How long have you been here, Mook? Who are you? Did you kill Bird? We're friends. Friend of Moog?

We want the best for Moog. Yes. Roll a persuasion check. Oh, it's my favorite skill. Can I give him help? Can I be like, this is how you should say it. Yeah, can I like coach him? So what do you say?

I'd be like, tell him we're here to help. And when you say it, think of holding Torin's hand. That's what I always do. Not Torin, but someone else. Kralath is going to do. mutter a prayer to Kelimvor to help guide Jack's tongue. So roll with advantage because of Red's assistance and give a D4 for the guidance. Mug, we have food, but you need to tell us where the rest of the giants are.

Twelve. Chief Gah take Mug boyfriend. Mug husband. She's the worst. Chief Gah. Bad. Something bad. should happen to Chief Gha.

Yeah. We make bad things happen. We could do it for you. Yeah. Get Mug's husband back. Yeah? Where's Chief Gah? Yeah.

Yeah. You hear this crashing sound from inside the tower. Yeah! Get Ruck! Get Ruck back for Mug. Ruck get Mug food. Doren's sitting there, and he's like hearing. the one-sided conversation that Jack is having

and then there's like this far-off loud screaming from the tower. I don't hear the other side of the conversation just hear screaming from this tower and then Jack talking to himself. And it's only the target of the... So it just means whispering to this ore but you can't even make out the words.

It's just like, which way do we go? More crashing from within the old tower and then the boulder rolls away and you see her this huge hill giant she actually looks a little bit

worse for wear she's not starving by any means but she's looking a little slender and she casts around wildly before her eyes land on you and she's taken aback

you small folk it's a trick it's to help us get Chief Gha they'll never expect us I know like small folk. You're speaking giant, aren't you? Yeah. I'm speaking giant. I must be a giant.

I'm very far away. You, you baby giant? Very far away, baby giant. But very strong. Can get Chief Goh. Show Moog how strong. Show Moog. Why don't you just make an illusion that we're a big person? Because it's a very minor illusion.

I'll jump up on Krala's shoulders. Actually, so yeah, the two of you are on top of your shoulders. Five-foot cube on top of that is big, scary giant face that, but that I think looks like the handsomest hill giant I can imagine being, like, growling and being like, we're going to fuck up chief guh. And then like my stockiness and Krala's stockiness stacked on top of each other, that's like, what, 12 feet tall plus a square, like a head, you know it? Yep.

To a blind, half-blind giant might. Far away. Might really look like it. We're powerful. Okay. Yes. While they're doing this, I'm going to sneak towards the tower, just past her, and I'm going to cast a tech magic. Yeah, she takes like a few steps hesitatingly toward your party as you slip by her.

Yeah, easily. And as she says, bring, bring Moog food. Bring Moog hungry. You make your way into the bottom floor of the tower. Um, there's a lot of rubble on the ground of the lower level of this tower. As you look up, you see a huge hole in the ceiling. The roof is all collapsed in. So all this rubble is from detritus from the roof collapse. There's some aeroslits around. So you can just sort of keep an eye on what's going on with your party as you're inside here. And the glow of magic comes from the floor tiles. There's a cracked floor tile and you see it. There's like an aura of magic emanating. Fuck, yeah. I reach down and I grab it. You sift through these cracked floor tiles and find a hidden compartment. There's a chest here.

Yeah, I'm going to open it. Is that a nice chest? You find a magic ring and some magic armor. I'm going to quickly just dump into the bag of holding and get out of the tower. Okay. Just like slink back to these guys. Rock will bring Mug food once we free him. Yeah.

Yeah. Ruck not know why he with Gah, Gah bad. Which way? Where's Gah? I show you. I show you. And she stomps toward you slowly. You hide and we'll follow you. That way they'll never expect us. I not want to go. Okay, then just show us.

I show you. Yeah. You get Ruck. Well, we'll get Ruck. Don't worry. First you get Ruck. food for Moog Brock's going to get food. Food for Moog!

All right. Oh, Moog, I love ye so much. Thank you to Kellan Holman, Christopher Ryan Evans, and of course, Adam Frey, for being our great old one Patreon supporters. You make it worth living. See you soon! Hey!