Dice Shame - 49 | 'To Kingdom Come'

Episode Date: September 17, 2020

The team heads to the forgotten ruins of a Dwarven kingdom in search of an ancient artifact... 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.

Hey, Red, check out the yellow snow over there. Oh, no. This is an archaeology. This is exploring ancient ruins, you dummy. Got me there. Kralov Pats' belly. Satisfying indeed. Brow.

Bear trees, oh, no. Roll for initiative. I don't know. You're asking me even like I'm supposed to know, but I don't know. It's a riot away. Bored of Doran's rambling. We're waving at you from the top of a statue, just like the touristy of tourists. Red, Kralath, up here.

I disdain cowards and look forward to meeting. blood in battle. Hello all, welcome back to Dyshame, episode 49 to Kingdom Come. MVP this week is Tim Tabor for the wonderful parcel that he sent us. It included a love letter from the community and an amazing Cthulhu statue. Very cool and very spooky. Super spooky. Are you looking for a new audio drama to enjoy?

Check out our friends at Y2K. Y2K is a serialized drama in the form of a fiction podcast. It's a tale of love, identity, and long-distance friendship set in two timelines on opposite sides of the world. You can find all their episodes at Y2KPod.com. You ready to do this? Let's do this. This party has been adventuring for one month.

One month, guys. It is the 22nd of Marponoth. It dawns gray and snowy. The first snow of the seasons blanketing everything. It's just an inch or two deep, but the landscape around you is white and crystalline. And there are visitors here at Gred Hogg. A retinue of folks, shepherds and ranchers from Belliard has made their way down. They've traveled throughout the night in order to make it here first thing in the morning.

And they're stoked. You hear them coming through the trees, I guess through the tree stumps, talking excitedly and nervously. You know, I was going to say something about us having to take down this dam. But I think what would be more exciting and interesting would be if we pack up and kind of move on, but there's this scene of like the communities that are there getting together the cattle and everything. And they're like, you can see them all pulling. straps and there's like important people and engineers like telling how to do this and then there's a bunch of people with ropes and they're all like okay let's go and they pull the thing you know that

if goldenfield is sending representatives to come and claim some of their belongings they're not going to show up for five days so I'm sure you can trust the residents of bell yard to handle that diplomatically yeah I think what what was built by giants is not dismantled in eight hours for sure so I think it's like a project we're leaving these folks yeah We did the dirty work, you do the rest. But it'll be really great to come back, you know, a year later and see how the ecosystems change. How all the new giants have moved in. Some of the ranchers from Belliard have brought their draft horses with sledges and wagons.

And they're, like, excited about dismantling parts of this and bringing the timber is very valuable. So it's kind of a long drive. It's like so much usable. Up the road, like through the fields and stuff. But anything that they can take. take and use for the winter right now, especially with the community in such dire straits, they're going to make use of it. So anyone obviously in charge of these folks?

Yeah, Sheriff Kerr is down here. So maybe we'll just spend a quick moment with the sheriff to say, you know, here's my take on how I'd start to dismantle this, but you do it however you see fit. Fucking Jack. Can't help, but I've been thinking about it all night. So here's my notes on how I would take this place apart and make sure the ecosystem was restored. And, you know, these are the important things to think about.

Sheriff Care is like, well, many thanks there. And, uh, Jack. And Red Lake leans in, I believe there was talk of a reward for killing the giants. Well, yes, there was. He goes through his purse. He's like, here you are. 500 gold pieces, I believe. Ah, yes.

Now we're all settled up, and really, I can't thank you enough. I'm sure that if this ain't all of them, at least it's most of them. Looks like this place is big enough to hold a whole army. And they took all our fucking pigs. War pigs. And if you're ever in Belliard, We got a place for you at the inn Goodbye

Yeah Well thank you Take care He takes a pull on his slask So we head off We do Yeah Let's roll

South we go And can we hitch up our horses And say goodbye And as we're leaving Like this area There's like all these Like little townsfolk Kind of showing up

And they're like Oh there's the adventures That took out the giants Oh Yeah folks are like Gossiping a little bit About you guys And yeah

Giggling and telling stories So you travel all day. You spend most of the time on horseback, sometimes getting down to relieve the horses and give them a bit of a break. And relieve ourselves. That's right. The snow on our foot is crunchy and strange to you, Red. Every time it snows, it's like exciting again. Hey, Red, check out the yellow snow over there. Oh, no. What does it taste like? I don't know, maybe you should try it. Snickdorts trying to stifle a laugh. It's like his deception.

I think it's especially cool for a ranger to encounter snow for the first time because it's so clear to see all the tracks of all the animals around that have passed different ways. At the same time, it's also really tough to see when it's really bright out because white snow, it's so reflective. It makes everything extra bright, and it's tough to sometimes see distance. So I think as much as tracking is like way easier for red, he's also having a tough time discerning hills and landscape when everything is just overt white. It's all blown out. It's almost nightfall when you come upon a strange feature in the landscape. The light snow has helped distinguish a pile of rocks that seem to be placed purposefully in the divot between two hills where three bear trees are growing. Bear trees, oh no.

Roll for initiative. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, is there like a history check or a nature check or something that would sort of give us a little more info about what the purpose was? You can roll an investigation check first if you like. I'd love to investigate. These are just stones? There's no stonework on them? There's a big pile of stones in the divot between two hills.

23. Nice. Jack, as you move closer to investigate, you note that there seem to be lines of stones also radiating out from the central pile and that despite the light snow cover, there are pieces of bone intermingling with the rocks here. The ground is humped up in such a way that implies something buried inside. A burial mound. Looks to be.

You know, this sort of brings me back to when I first hired you guys. We were going to a burial mound, not unlike this one, where we dug around, found that spoon. Great point, Jack. This is, you would estimate, probably a Newthgard Barbarian mound. I would bet this is also a Newthgard Barbarian mound. I'm imagining Jack has sort of been looking around sort of circling on a amicure and takes maybe two or three good trots back from it. Part of him wants to do the right thing, which is like find the Uthgard tribe around here and like ask them for permission to

do an archaeological exploration because that's his gut feel. And then maybe Doren's like walking around on foot and he hears Jack talk about this Uthgart barbarian burial site. Can I see, you said there's bones sticking out of the ground? Not sticking out of the ground, but intermingled with the stones that are creating these radial lines that stick out like like spokes from a whale, I suppose, from the central area of the mound. So maybe I follow one of these radiating lines and I follow it to the main mound. And I procure the bone emblem that came off of Gryhark. And I take the emblem and I kind of set it ceremoniously on the mound.

And then I take out my knife and I cut my hand open and put my hand right in the mound, like right next to it. Leaving a bloody handprint there, you've fought well. We'll always remember you as someone who had our back. And I get up and walk away from the center. Do you have inspiration, Alex? Unfortunately, I do. Damn it.

But I kind of look at Jack for like, is that the right move? Like, did I? No, I'm totally pleased. Perfect. It seems very appropriate to me. I love that so much. I want to reward that bit of role play

and the tying up of that storyline so much that I would like to give you inspiration that you can bequeath to someone else if you like. Okay, who doesn't have inspiration? Nice. I do not have inspiration. Okay, Jack. Beautiful.

There you go. So it's coming on nightfall. Did you want to hang out here or you want to move along? I mean, I don't want to camp in the graveyard. Yeah, let's be moving south. We got lots of ground to cover. Yeah, keep moving until the daylight runs right out.

Yeah, so you make camp, you know, an hour or so on. And maybe Lehman's Tiny Hut has a white exterior now that there's snow on the ground. Perfectly matched to the snow, yeah. Yeah, so you guys have some magic items that you wanted to learn about, correct? Yes, please. Yeah. So I'm not sure how you guys like to figure out your potions. I personally think that it's kind of common that someone would unscrew the vials stopper

and take a tiny taste on a fingertip or, you know, smell it or something. It's really hard to discern what a potion does just by looking at it, right? You find that one of the potions has got kind of a translucent blue color with these big yellow bubbles inside. Oh, weird. And just a small taste makes you feel like if you drank it, you could breathe under water. Oh. I think this is a flying potion. Potion of water breathing.

The other potion is a slim vial full of silvery liquid. that sizzles and shimmers, when you taste it, you feel like you would gain a huge amount of strength. This is a potion of frost giant strength. Whoa. Yeah. I feel like we should give that to Doran.

Probably. Thanks. And the water breathing, probably to Jack, because you have this ring of swimming. It's true, yeah. Cool. There's a spell scroll. Let's pull that apart and see what's going on. You unravel the spell scroll

and reveal the instructions that would allow you to cast crown. of madness. Ooh. Not sure if that's a spell you have, but that's what the dice gave me. I don't know that one at all. So someone's going to have to attune to this conch in order to figure out what it does. Yeah, someone that knows Giant.

I can do it. I'm curious. Cool. You spend an hour hanging out with the conch. I just cuddle it. So you find out that as an action, you can cast the teleport spell by blowing into this shell. Wow. That the destination is fixed.

You don't know where it would go. Cool. That there is no chance of a mishap or the spell being off target, and it's just the one person who blows this conch. You would appear in a specific location designed by the item's creator, and it doesn't allow teleportation to any other destination. So this is a one-way ticket out of here to you don't know where. So if I blow this conch, I will transport somewhere that I have no idea where. Exactly. I love it.

You would have no way of returning. It's a good thing I don't have it. Let me just say that. Red, its character is like that, but the player is not. What do you do with this information? I tell them, guys, this conch is, if someone blows into it, it transports them somewhere. I have no idea. Cool, let me try.

No, don't, down it! Okay, okay. Now, I guess you'd have to tune to it to actually. So I'm just going to keep it in the back and the bottom. Yeah, so that's kind of cool and interesting. Very cool. What's it called? It's called the Conch of Teleportation.

Oh. we're just hanging out and sort of before we're going to bed, Red sort of slinks off to the corner and he looks again at this conch. My precious. And I look at the runes, Journey's Sacred King, and I have, as they are my

favorite enemy, advantage on information. And on my own, I just kind of want to ponder on it. Do those words mean anything to me based on giants and their history and the tales that I know from Mazdican culture? Roll for it. That is a 15, I believe. So Journey, obviously.

might bring you on a journey. It's a conch of teleportation. Sacred, you're unsure about whether that would be referring to this artifact or to the place that you might be brought. And king, maybe would bring you into the audience of a deity or ruler. Okay, further on that, does anything from my dream sort of inform itself of this? Does the conch seem familiar to the landscape that I envisioned? It does. And Red, as we find you in this question, quiet moment contemplating the conch with your paws on it with your eyes closed thinking about what you might know of giant culture of these ruins pondering your dream the sensation of snow evaporating on your fur turns your consciousness inside out you lose all sensation in your body

it's like you're floating a gradient of deep blue shimmers before your eyes and you are transported we see you suspended in the deep a tiny cat alone in the dark the fur on your body drifts in the water we zoom out way way way out and we see you just so small against this massive backdrop of ocean there's no sea floor no ceiling of waves above you you're totally alone in the vast dark water fear grips you your tiny limbs start to paddle and thrash so small so far away from air, and then something impossibly huge moves behind you in the darkness. And then you wake up. And I sort of just nervously look around. Everyone's still, like, going about their individual things. Yeah, you found, like, a place to be alone, but you see your friends. Yeah, Doren's, like, feeding the fire.

Yeah, and I just, like, take a moment, take a breath, and then put the conch away and sort of side-eye, try to go about some mundane task. Jack probably stays up a little bit too late. copying this crown of madness into his spellbook and sleeps in a little bit delaying our travel maybe an hour or two in the morning. Oh, Jack. That guy. In the morning, I'm getting a little bit irritated. Come on, Jack. Just a few more minutes, Doran. And it's not like an angry. It's more like an excited kid. Can we get there? Oh, yeah. So true. Quicker we get on the road, the less time it'll take to get there. Come on. You like wake up and Red and B have built

snowmen outside. Oh, of course they have. Reds is just this terrible, weird, like, tentacled arm thing. Like, just poorly made and bees got this perfectly rounded. I feel like she's this, like, Hermione Granger-esque perfectionist. Oh, yes, absolutely. And Red is very much like the fun dumb dad who can't do it, but it's just like almost more immature than her to an extent, but also hyper-skilled in certain aspects with being an archer and stuff.

So it's just this weird duality. So cool. And Kralov is trying to do his morning prayers and meditation, and he's, choosing spells that he thinks would be useful for this. But he keeps on, like, opening one eye and chuckling to himself as he watches the antics of Red and B. But who throws the first snowball? I think it comes from Doren when I ask if B can steal a carrot from his bag.

Shit Fawn's got a carrot. We need a nose. So see if you can do it. She's, like, obviously doing it. It's good nature, though. One minute you look over and Doran's, like, not paying any attention, you're stoking, you know, just putting out the last bits of the fire, you know, your attention goes back to shit further, then all of a sudden

this snowball comes at a left field, and there I am standing, looking at you and it maybe hits you, ah! That hurt. Yeah, because I don't, I would know what a snowball is. Like, I need someone else to make it. It's all in good fun, Red. You guys, get on horseback,

you ride out into the morning. It's crisp, and by the time it's mid-morning, the snow has partially thawed and is finding its way into trickles of water and the muddy ground underneath these leaves. leafless trees. Our skins and furs are coming off, you know, the layers that we put on in the morning. Yeah, yeah. Like it's not winter proper yet. It's just kind of getting dark, getting cold.

So, you are on horseback when you come to see that there are some pieces of stone and ruin starting to litter the landscape. You find a cistern. There's water green with algae and partially skinned with ice that fills a 50 foot wide cistern dug into the earth here the water's surface sits 30 feet below ground level so it's mostly empty there's the remains of an aqueduct that come from a point higher up on the bluff that you're standing on that's still visible but most of it's fallen into ruin so you're approaching from the north and traveling south and south of you there's the edge of this bluff and you look down into a valley. The escarpment that you're standing on is littered with the remains of this stone aqueduct. It's clearly, I mean, even from the ruins, but Doran, you can tell

that this is dwarven stonework. Yeah. And then looking down, you see the remains of other stone buildings partially sticking up out of the frozen earth, like broken teeth. Cool. Jeez. What happened here, Doran? Well, like a lot of our cities, this is an ancient city. And it has succumbed to time. So now we must find a way into the lower levels. All right. Well, let's go. This is the great leader, Thorold Flame Tong.

He founded this city. That's right. The tales say that he was also buried here with his great act. Let's go check it out. And I ride away, bored of Doran's rambling. What's everyone's passive perception real quick? 16. 11.

15. Kraloth and Red, as you guys move the horses to, descend the escarpment heading west. You see tracks in the freshly fallen snow, big ones. Giant-sized. No, these are probably belonging to a large animal. You see that, bud? Yeah, I do see it. Some sort of beast. Yeah, I think we hop off and we'll both take a look at the track, see if we can discern what animal. Yeah, rule of nature check. A one. A one. I jump right on the track. Oops. Hey, uh, hey, Jack. Yeah. How are you with nature? I love it. Yeah, here. Uh, Come over here. Redden and I found some tracks, and I'm going to lay a hand on your shoulder and cast guidance on you.

You got an extra 1D4 to your ability check. All right. So 30. Wow. Wow. Brilliant. Shut up, Jack. These are owl bear tracks. Oh. This is a family unit. You see a couple more off to the side.

They were put down recently. They're probably hunting. You guys need to be careful. You know, so there's a reason you might not have known about this in Mazda. I don't think these are really natural creatures in any sense. They're sort of more half owl, half bear, all bad news, and they're hungry. What? Half owl, half bear?

It's called an owl bear. I've never even heard of such a thing. So it's like an owl with a bear's head? The other way, mostly. Oh, I get it. You're pulling a fast one on me. No, Red, this is going to sound like I'm pulling your leg, but this is a... Oh, this is another bag bear thing, eh?

Owl bears are a real danger in these parts. I'm just picturing like red and I are like, I can see it perfectly in our mind and both of us have completely different images. One of them is an owl but bear of feathers. Like there's no, it's an owl bear. One's just a cute little Kieran, but from the original owl form just with her face. Oh, Kieran, we miss you. I sort of go, I'm sure and then kind of wink loudly.

Owl bears are a real thing, right, Doreen? You know about them. And Doran hears owl bear, and he looks back and he says, Don't mess with owl bears, they're pretty dangerous creatures. And then he sees Red and Craylaw, like not entirely believing. And Doran's stare just continues as stern, you know, as in Jack's not fucking around. You're pretty good. I'm definitely buying it.

And I'm going to rule in sight, and I got a five. I'm sure. Doran's glare just doesn't change. But the real question is, do they? taste good. I don't want to get close enough to find out. The question you have to be concerned with is, do you taste good to an owl bear? Come on, let's keep going. If we can avoid this confrontation with some wild owl bears, then I think it's probably for the best. Well, why didn't we sneak? I can cast pass without trace and we can head down to the ruins, pretty undetected. It works to me. Sure. I'm good

with that. That's what it's here for. Give it a try. So I'll cast pass without trace, and I will have an aura around me that gives us all plus 10 to our stealth. So you continue traveling the way that you had been going? Yeah. Yeah, obviously being on alert for anything. Cool. Everyone rolls stealth. So I got 17.

Dirty 20. Also dirty 20. 24. So you guys continue plodding along on your horses carefully, silently down the escarpment towards the west until you find a place where you feel like the horses won't break their legs picking their way down the hill. You don't encounter any owl bears.

They don't surprise you. No one has found. Anyone. You make your way down. Is there any place that we can keep the horses and be in Orrin in a way that could be relatively safe? Well, as you make your way down into this valley area, Doran spies a building off against the wall of the escarpment that looks like maybe it was an amphitheater at one point would probably give some cover if you wanted to put the horses there and leave them.

Probably be your best bet. Let's lead them over to the amphitheater. seems like a good place Doran to hide them. As you walk in the shadow of this escarpment, you pass a number of crumbling buildings that maybe you make a mental note to go and investigate later. Doren, like, super hyper excited right now.

Disney World is like hopping from foot to foot. Less like Disney World, more like an ancient world of wonder, you know, ancient civilization. Like the interest that goes through my mind, the imagination of that this was once a bustling city of dwarven people. On your way to the amphitheater, you pass within a hundred yards of a crumbling archway, as well as a massive structure that was probably once topped by a great statue,

but now is sort of cut off at the waist and worn through with time. Those were Thorold's legs. He must have worked out. And then also there's kind of something that would have maybe been a square building, but looks like it has been worn away into just a couple sets of alcoves and broken statues. All the buildings there are spread pretty far apart. I think Red would sit down and sort of wave at Dorn

and specifically Jack and say, well, you're the archaeologist, this is your wheelhouse. Let us know where we have to go. And he'll just going to literally sit back and lean against a pillar and close his eyes. Dorn, what about that one with the statue? Let's go take a look. I was thinking of the same thing. And Dorn kind of walks over and brushes away.

maybe the bottom of the statue where there's like a large block. This massive structure was once a building topped by a great statue, a dwarf standing proudly with one arm outstretched brandishing his great axe. You would know this because

most of that statue is laying in rubble on the ground around you but it's larger than life. The statue's arm outstretched is the size of your body or longer. Only the legs waist and weapon remain There's a staircase inside the building that rises through the statue, though it was originally, Jack is telling you now, originally designed to ascend all the way to the statue's head as a watchtower.

It now stops suddenly at the figure's waist. So you can climb some story or so up this watchtower and take a look out at the land. And let's say I do. I'm looking at more for more of a vantage point where I can kind of look around and see. Just imagine what this would have looked like, a watch tower for. from up here. The stonework. Incredible. To see out of the eyes of Thorold Flame Tongue. Now that would be amazing. And I just roll my eyes loudly at Kralov. We're waving at you from the top of a statue, just like the

touristy of tourists. Red, Kralath, up here. Look at Jack's fanny pack up there. It's a satchel, thank you. I'm kind of looking down and scanning the base of the cliff, looking for some, maybe there's an entrance, way or something that looks more like a pathway. Well, there's that other square building. Yeah. Doran, as you observe the landscape and you cast your eyes over this building that was surely once square in design, the hall must have been a shining example of Bissolmer's

architectural mastery. Even though this place is some thousands of years in the ruin, you see that there are the jagged remnants of thick soaring walls. That's probably your best bet. as to how you would get downstairs if there is one. And we're kind of moving towards this building as we're... Yeah, sure. You descend the stairs and you head towards it. And I picture we step into this like crumbled roof building and there's like, you know,

we hear a bird flap through, you know, it's like... Yeah. And actually, there's places here where bits of the roof are still, you know, intact. Hundreds of years with no maintenance. And look at that bit of the roof. Still standing strong. Incredible, isn't it? Doran, you step on something that cracks and breaks and you reach down. You pick up a shard of stained glass, rich ruby red color. Look at that. Could you imagine this on all the windows?

And I hold it up to the light and the red shines on my face. Incredible. So there are four arches. Each one occupies part of one of the four walls of this huge square building. And as you investigate this building, you come across doorways in each arch that lead down to a narrow spiral staircase that descends into the earth. It seems like each of these arches has a staircase. I don't ever remember hearing about four entrances. I wonder if they all lead the same place.

What do you think, Jack? Hey, Kieran, do you want to take a quick fly down there just to see what you see down each one, maybe 50 feet and then come back? The raven's glittering eyes shoot daggers and hatred at you as he hops obediently down into the darkness on these stone stairs. Thanks, Kieran, I say, trying to like talk to them as if I, like I used to talk to Kieran, but there's like an awkward edge to it. I'm sure everybody can see how much my familiar hates me now and it's not okay. But I'm really excited for the day that you really need Kieran to do something and they just say no. Then you hear a voice in your head coming from down below, master there's vile machinery wheels oh wow neat doran there's like wheels and machinery down there we gotta

go check it out oh for sure as kieran's kind of coming up and going down the other two i i walk to the entrance and i start hollering for uh red and kreeloth and b and orrin we're over here you just have i guess they won't know it's time to go just about finish this Well, and there we go. Having a little cat map. Oh, I just pictured you stretching like a cat does. Bye, B. Bye, Horan.

We might be back in for a few days. We do this shit pretty slow. We'll bring the horses to the amphitheatre. Yeah, keep your eyes and ears open. I figure by the time these two make their way over to the hall where we are, Kieran would have had a chance now to investigate all four entrances. Yeah, they all lead down to dark rooms full of dwarven gears. What's up, boys?

Well, did you see anything else down there, Kieran? It's just these dwarven machinery. Cool. Well, why don't you take the lead and we'll follow you? All right. So I take the first hallway staircase down. I'm right behind you. Yeah, we'll call it like the south-eastern one.

Their staircase leads to a small underground chamber. The dark room contains a large stone flywheel connected to a series of gears. more Dwarven machinery must be hidden behind the walls beneath the floor. It's like well hidden and engineered. Carved into the ceiling is a symbol in Dwarven. It says Earth. What's its original purpose? The original purpose of this flywheel, Jack, is that it is a mechanism for unsealing a lock.

Do each of these passageways have a different wheel? Jack? Kieran's gone to the other three chambers and they've got different symbols, one for air, fire, water, and this one's Earth. So it's like a combination lock, I guess. We've got to do it to, what, open the doorway to the Dwarven ruins then? So, Doren, and what order should they be in? Yeah, I don't know.

You're asking me, like I'm supposed to know, but I don't know. It's an ancient civilization. And I try to move the flywheel. Doesn't move. Kralov just is kind of looking around, seeing if there's anything interesting. Did you want to roll an investigation check? Maybe I will investigate then while we're looking around here. I roll 19 plus 7 is 26.

Nice. You uncover a couple of different details about this flywheel and its mechanism. You discover a disengaged sprocket that can be slid along an axle to engage a different part of the machinery. Oh, well, there's your problem. So as you set this sprocket back in place and Doran puts his... strength against the wheel, it does move when it is being pushed. And you can hear the sound of grinding stone echoing in the distance. Additionally, as Doran moves the wheel, Jack, you spot that there's a small hole on the

rim of the flywheel. Oh, interesting. Maybe like two inches in diameter. Hey, you know what this means on the plus side? We're the first ones to come into these ruins in a long time. Obviously, there's some mechanism holding the door shut. It's not just open air. It's kind of exciting, isn't it, Doren?

It's incredibly exciting. I'll go check the other wheel, and I head back up, and I'm going to go down one of the other passages. Great. Yeah, and you know what? Maybe I go up and head down another different passage. Kralov, do you see anything through that hole? Kralov gets down onto one knee, and he peers out. You don't see anything through the hole, but down on your hands and knees, Kralov.

You see that there are very faint etchings along the edge of this flywheel. Dwarven ruins. There's more runes on the wheel. Hey, Doren. Oh, wait. I speak dwarven. Yeah, there are symbols for air, earth, fire, water. Can we hear each other from, as I'm down?

Can I like yell? Yeah, you can yell. Cool. Everyone can hear everyone. I'm in my wheel! Does your wheel have symbols on it? We found symbols on ours. Yeah, little squigglys.

Someone go to the fourth room. I yell. All right, I'll leave Kralath here. I'll go. What are the symbols mean, Kralov? Oh, same. earth, water, and air. Oh.

I think it might have something to do with the ceiling. Is there a way to line up the flywheel so that the symbol lines up somewhere? Absolutely, there is, yes. Okay. So I say, I think that there should be one symbol of each, and you got to shift it so that it's lining up with the ceiling somehow. All right. And I look on the flywheel, and I just match it with the symbol on the ceiling.

Yeah. So you hear grinding noise somewhere. deep within the earth. Yeah, same here. And I leave it on that, and I'll head back upstairs. As you abandon the handle of the flywheel, it slides back into place.

Oh, I head back down, like, hold it. You got to hold him into place. Okay, okay, hold on. I'm almost there. I'm picturing a moment where Red, like, does that, and then, like, walks away. It's like, oh, it got loose, and then goes back and fixes it again,

and then goes back off. Wait, hold on. Let's go. The handle comes around, hits you in the bum. Once they're in place, can you disconnect the sprocket? Or put that stick in where... Or I locked them in.

I stick in the hole. That makes sense. Yeah. What do you put in the hole? Oh, man. An arrow? Can I put like an arrow shaft? Yeah, it's a little bit loose, but it seems to clatter around inside the hole.

And then it's almost like at risk of breaking off and then it holds. You got to lock it in a place for something. I put an arrow in mine. It's weak, but it's working. I've got a pitan, a pittin. That'd work perfect, yeah. Stick that in the hole. I've got a dagger.

Cool. You leave a dagger behind. I don't have a dagger anymore. I've got some leftover jerky. No, no. Crammed the whole full of jerks. And I'm just like, I don't have anything else. I'll be back for you later.

And I stick it in there. The boar doesn't work, Justin. I'm sorry to say. Oh, man. All right, then I take out a torch. No, no, the bone. He eats the entire dry-aged boar leg and then puts the bone in. And you guys are all waiting?

Kralath, you got it yet? Kralov. That's perfect. Carloth, are you ready? Give me a minute. So as each one goes into place, there's like a clunk, clunk, clunk until they all kind of stay. Yeah, exactly. You've solved my flywheel puzzle.

Hey. Nice. Great puzzle. I like it. Almost 50 episodes, and that's the first puzzle we've had. Very interesting. You're welcome. I excitedly jogged back up to the top, waiting everyone else.

So, did you do it? Yeah. It was a very satisfying clunk. Mm-hmm. Kralov Pats is belly. Satisfying indeed. And we head back outside. As you guys exit from this square building,

your eyes catch on a previously unnoticed doorway in the bluffs. So it's just to the northeast of where you are, 300 yards from the amphitheater. And it looks like there are some statues carved from stone standing within an alco. Weird. Doran. Yes. I think that's the entrance.

That would be it, I think. We did it! Yes, come on. And he kind of like hurriedly jogs a bit. See, Red, isn't archaeology fun? What? This is an archaeology. This is exploring ancient ruins, you dummy.

Got me there. So we make it up to this doorway. As you make it up to this doorway. Seven poison darts, pirate. I feel like I'm so much faster than Doren, but I keep waiting because he's obviously as you approach the ground rumbles as huge chunks of paving stone clatter and roll across the ground they coalesce into a heap that forms into a shifting 20-foot tall humanoid figure with a vaguely dwarven appearance it strikes a stone sword against the ground in front of it as if to say this far and no further down and luck it's a big stone guy i see that hi there Hi there.

I approach with both hands up in the air. Sort of like a whoa, calm down sort of thing. We're friends. I'm going to invoke my know-your-enemy. Oh. Nice. Good call. You haven't used that yet.

That's right, which I spent in a minute observing this creature. And I want to know what its current HP is and its armor class. Nice. Good call, Alex. Excellent. Well, thanks, Harlan. I don't know if you're going to like this. It has an ACF 17, all natural armor.

It's all natural baby. And 178 hit points. Okay, so we don't want to fight this. No. Doran with a loud, clear voice, says to the statue, We are here to visit Thorold Flame Tongue. We are friends. The statue stands steadfast, immutable as the stone it is made from.

I wonder if we've just turned this stone golem on. and if one of us went back to unlock the machine that we just turned on and turned it off, do you know what I mean? I'm happy to get far away from here and go play with the stones that I know how they work and aren't immune to magic. So I'll go hide underground. I'll be right back. Yeah, as you release the first of these flywheels and it begins to crank back into its starting

position, the stones of this golem unhinged themselves, loosen and then topple. down to the ground in a pile of rubble. Interesting. Does the door shut, though? Yeah, I mean, you haven't been into the entryway, but there's a unclunking sound that is unsatisfying. What if we go stand right next to the door now and get B to crank it in place and open it and we rush in and then once we're inside,

she can reset it against the stone gallum disappears. And to get out, I could leave Kieran out here to sort of signal when we're ready. I love it. I think it's a great idea. I don't want to fight a stone gallum. They're bad for wizards. Okay, let's save here. And then if it doesn't work, we'll just come back.

We can quick save and reload. Cool, let's do it then. Yeah. So who do you send to be the person who is opening and closing the door? Probably Oren, because worst case scenario, B would be better in a pinch should something go wrong to help us. Okay. So like Oren comes up and we kind of explain the situation and then he goes back and the crows kind of hopping beside him. Mm-hmm.

And then you guys approach. the entrance to the facade, I guess? Yeah, yeah. As you tell Oren what's going on, re-approach this pile of stones that had prevented you from accessing the wall of the stone bluffs. You move past the pile

and you see that it was guarding this facade built into the bluff. There are two alcoves that flank an opening. Even though the door has not yet been reopened, the opening is still there. So it's some other door that is being controlled here. So there are life-sized statues

carved from stone that stand within each of these alcoves that flank the entrance that lead into the side of this bluff. They appear to be a pair of dwarves in full regalia. Doran, perhaps you think this would be an honor guard.

Mm-hmm. The statues are badly weathered. They've suffered damage from vandals and treasure hunters. Hmm. What's with all the fucking dwarves here? God. So the opening that you all head into leads into a hallway that extends back into the side of this cliff face.

It goes about 60 feet back, and then it comes to a long staircase that descends into darkness. Cool. With landings positioned every 20 feet, and on the either side of each landing, there's a small alcove that holds a stone brazier, though they're not lit. This is so exciting. I can't believe it. And we're traveling down further and further. Are you first in line, Doran? Oh, absolutely.

And I feel like maybe there's a door at the bottom here, and that's why we need Orrin to open the door. Red's at the back, nervously looking up, again, not liking being in the dark and underground. Yeah, and a lot of this place is, like, filled with spider webs that just cross the passage that you guys have to break through. It gives you, like, the hebie-jee-jee-bees. I think we're done.

We got everything we need, right? Let's go now. Not a lot of people spend a lot of time down here, clearly. The stairs open at last into a great hall filled with massive square columns, 20 feet thick, that rise to a ceiling 30 feet overhead. There are stone braziers that stand at the intersection of each pathway between the columns. And each column serves as a mausoleum. As you enter this big room, you see that there are alcoves carved into each side of each column offset. and inside each alcove hold stone effigies of the interred dead.

This is a graveyard. Wow, feel it home. These are tombs. Many of them have been smashed open, revealing the bones of the dead inside. This place has been vandalized many times over. There are crumbled and ruined stonework of broken effigies smashed on the floor. Damned, disrespectful folk. Well, let's not be too high and mighty, because if we find a magical axe down here, I doubt we're going to leave it behind.

Well, red. That's right. Doran, you walk the halls here punctuated by these huge columns. You feel like the weight of the souls of the dead of your ancestors are all here speaking to you. I'm running my hands along the columns of these mausoleums. And I guess the feeling that's going through my mind is not so much sadness or, you know, any negative feeling. It's more of that of wonder and just standing in a place. So many other dwarves have stood before.

And I think back to the golden age of the dwarf and, you know, these halls and their full capacity, you know, full capacity. As you pass by these broken and robbed crypts, you look inside and you see that some of the them still contain a stone slab against the far wall that contain bas-relief images of the dwarves that were once entombed within. So there are these like weird portraits of the dead. Yeah. The names are like old to me. They're like, oh, who would really be named? Hack wound. That's such an old name. Hachmoon's like a grandpa name. It's like thinking of someone named like Geraldine. You're like, that's old-fashioned. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Kralath is just idly picking up bones and placing them back in the mausoleums. Oh, that's cool. But it's like a natural thing. It's just like he's like sweeping, you know? It's just like, oh, do-dum-da-dum. I'd love to maybe investigate around to see if there's any other ways out of this room or any doors or places or 23. Jack, as you pace in the dark around this hall, the fallen dwarves, Doran's brethren. Your eyes fall upon an effigy on a tomb, one of the unbroken crypts.

It depicts a dwarven king in full regalia, clutching a stone scepter with one hand and pointing toward the floor with another. With your keen eyes, you detect that the scepter is a separate piece of stonework that you imagine could be removed from the dwarf's grip. Doren, quick, come over here. I found the coolest thing. Oh, rushes over. Look at this. Look at this. Is it Thorold the king or is it? You know what? It isn't. This is like an illustration of a king but not a portrait of a king.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah, this is a clue. This is a false king. That's not Thorold. That's how we know he's pointing to a false floor. Look, and I think you can move this torch if you just pull this out. Bingo. Is Doran sketching like frantically down here?

No, no, no. He's taking it all in. He's being part of the moment. No Instagram door in here. Right. I wouldn't even know about it because it's not specific to like Dwarving culture or anything. This is like specific to, uh, architecture and... This is like Jack's knowledge of art history.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically like how secret passageways are built and that sort of thing. And this is not my, it's not my knowledge. It's not my knowledge book, you know? Yeah. As Jack pulls this sceptor free from the carvings hands, Doran, your eyes cast around on the ground and you find that this, 20-foot square section in front of the crypt is different from the smooth stone elsewhere.

It's a little bit pock-marked, like it was made from a different kind of stone. And that there is a drilled hole next to the southernmost slab here. It's two-inch-wide, six-inch-deep hole. What could I put it in there? Who knows? Put your dick in a box. I hand the torch over to Doran. Let's unlock this place.

Oh, thank you so much, Jack. And I do, I slip it in. With a grinding sound, the slab moves aside. It just retreats into the wall of this crypt. And you see another stone slab. Tell Oren to open it. And now we're all kind of gathered around this area. All right, we ready?

This might have to be fast. Hopefully. Red's nervously looking around. I send the instruction to Kieran to... The halfling just jumps in the dark. You hear the sound of a halfling screaming from very far away. Just like with everything, there's like this like awkward long time and we're kind of all

like, God, it was taking him so long. He's almost there. Look, he's just getting it lined up. Eventually, the final stone slab slides away in the darkness to reveal a hidden staircase leading down. Wow. It stays open as long as Oren keeps. the door open, but you hear, you hear some rumbling from up ahead, maybe 200 feet above your

heads as a number of boulders begin piling into place. Let's go! And I jumped down. Yeah, go, go, go. So you all hop down into the darkness? Yeah, and then instruct Kieran to tell Oren to close the door again. Great. So you guys lock yourself into this, too. Yeah. Yep. Does it occur to any of you that that's kind of scary? Or are you just really excited? Red is freaking out. He's like, okay, okay. I even think he hesitates for a minute. And everyone's like, the stone golem and he's like I know I know just wait just wait

maybe he like claws down like you know like putting one foot in like someone nervous to get into a pool and then it starts closing and he pulls his claws back okay I'm fine not nervous at all let's go let's go wide stairs open into a strangely shaped room almost like a crucifix

shape hmm not ominous one day oh okay what's a crucifix set into the wall next to the stairs there's a stone lever that's in the down position and as you descend the stairs there are braziers similar to the ones that were on the staircase above you these braziers as you move down the stairs burn to life they burn with this mysterious blue flame and they give off no heat hmm ominous yes so there are alcoves to the east

and west and then in the center of the room there's a large dwarven statue standing at attention saluting a beautifully engraved marble sarcophagus that sits alone against the far wall, which, as you can see now that you move into the room, is covered with runes. These wounds are covered in wounds. Well, this looks like a lot of traps. Reds scans his eye around the room and turns to the others and says, look, just getting in here, there was that big stony guy. So I have no doubt whatsoever

that there's going to be some funny business. Can I do a perception at first? Sure. Just to see what I see so I can seize it. There's a 23. Nice. Can you read dwarvish? Can I?

No. The dwarf statue that you are looking upon that is some 40 feet ahead of you does resemble the stone gallum that was protecting the top of this crypt. And I pointed out, Hey, doesn't that statue

kind of look like the one that was upstairs? Do you guys want to hang out here for 10 minutes? I need to read Dwarvish. I'd like the comprehensive languages. Yeah, no, if you're taking 10 minutes, I'll take 10 minutes to do Detect Magic and then we'll be a solid expeditionary team. Yeah, team,

team let's hang out under the stairs, casting spells. Hi-fi. Yeah. Um, I guess. And I look to Doren, who, I have to imagine Doren, you're like super anxious to,

look around here, no? Doran is not so much anxious and giddy. He's more interested in taking it all in, you know, every little bit. I think that's a sarcophagus over there. And I point at the marble sarcophagus on the other side of the room. So, cofackephic guy, Doran, and I give a loud wink to Jack. Wink! I mean...

So if you move just a little bit down the stairs, you kind of get to within the radius, where you can actually read parts of what's on the sarcophagus. Now, the statue is in your way. So you can't read all of it. But here's what you can read with your excellent perception. Don't come closer. Here, majesty, king, tongue, he read, sun, defend, breath. So there's like portion in the middle.

of each line. There are four lines of script. And I kind of step off the last step into this room to read this. And I look back then at my fellow companions and I say, this is where Torrell's flame tongue is buried. This is his burial site. I'm surprised it's not, there's got to be hidden traps. That's what I'm saying. It probably is defendant. I agree with you. It's almost cruel to make them wait 10 minutes before we get to go more than two steps into the room. I know. So you guys just hang up for 10 minutes. Come on. Doran and Redder like,

come on, guys, let's go. I am going to begin moving into the room. I'll come with you, Doran. And I kind of step in, and maybe I walk to the first flaming torch. The first wall sconce. It's just so much to see. As you descend the stairs,

and you hug the left and, the western wall. As you hug the western wall, and you approach that wall sconce, you look just so curious, so in awe of this ancient tomb, you realize that there's a secret door directly beside you. Beautiful. Fantastic.

Guys, there's a doorway here. It's barely noticeable. Yeah, it's dusty, but you figure if you push against the correct brick in this masonry, that it would swing forward and open. So I'll stand there behind door, and I'll say, all right. And I pull my bow and I say, if you want to open it, I'll cover you. I kind of look nervously back towards Jack and Kraloth.

I'm almost ready. And then I look at Red. I'm just going to push it. We won't go far. We won't go far. Don't worry. Go, go, go. And I kind of place my hand against the wall and I kind of look for the seam and where the seam is.

It's like Christmas morning. Yeah. Jack and I exchange a look and we just ever so slightly speed up our movements. Nose back in the book. You're like, okay, what can I skip here? Skim this. That's syllable. I'm sure I can skip that one.

Okay, okay, okay, okay, no magic. Okay, bye. Open it, Doran, open it. So I give it a good push. Yeah, the door creaks forward, and you are given access to a corridor that probably hasn't been entered in 5,000 years. Hey, Doran.

Wow, wow, look at all the, wow, wow, wow, wow. Right, right. We have no idea what's down here. No, no, no, I'm just doing it to play a joke on the other guys. I want them to think that we found something really cool. Oh, it's very good. It's about 10 feet wide. It heads west about 30 feet, and then it turns north at a right angle,

and you can't see anything beyond. I think, hey, what if we go in and then shut the door behind us? They won't know where we went. Waiting patiently by the secret door, I think I'm at the angle I'm at, I can probably read. read what's on the sarcophagus. Yes, you look back in the darkness, and you read the following. Written in beautiful engraving on this Marvel sarcophagus.

You read, here lies his noble majesty, King Torhilled Flame Tongue. He raised a kingdom in the sun, defending it with his dying breath. Wow, I can't believe that we're standing in the presence of the great king. Thorold, Flame Tongue. Flame Tong is the one who perished on the bridge, right, Doran? That's right. Uh-huh. Fighting a giant?

Yeah, fire giant, maybe, I think. Right, right. Ten minutes elapse. Kralath and Jack, your spells rituals complete. There we go. Okay. He's like, come on, guys. Go.

And I'm going to head into the secret passage. Sure. There is a circular dais in the middle of the room, atop which there is an effigy of a dwarf lying in state. This is like a representation of a dwarf. Cool. As you walk up to this effigy of a dwarf, you realize it's got its arms crossed over its chest

and it's holding a great axe. I grab it. Cool. Yeah. You pick up this axe. Hey, look! And I hold this axe up. Whoa.

And Krayalath, as you walk into the room, you see Red standing atop a dais holding a magical great axe. Oh. Oh, it's pretty. I wonder what its name is. Good find, Red. Doran's jaw kind of drops a bit. The feelings are mixed inside Doran.

Almost like, don't fucking touch my axe, you know? And as you enter the room, Doran, Kralov, Jack, Red, you hear a little voice. Hello? Hello? You know, be really careful with that. You don't know what. you're holding. I'm holding an axe. It's awesome. Thank you. What? I looked down at the axe. My name is Ork Splitter. Oh! Does it sound like it's coming from the axe I'm holding?

I mean, it doesn't have like a mouth, but maybe. Can we all hear it? Yeah. Hello, Ork Splitter? My name is Red. Doran like rushes up to Red and like almost tries to take the axe away. Insert sort of a childish way. And in a childish way, Red like kind of pulls back a little bit, because he knows it's going to be yours anyway. He's like, Oaks-Splitter, this is my best friend, Doran and Kralath and Jack, and he, like, puts the hilt down

and, like, sets it up like a person trying to, like, show them. You're, you're a talking axe. You're the, you're the great axe of Dorold Flametong. You are Ork Splitter. Oh, I'm going to like you. This is, this is incredible. And at this point, Dora now has it in his hands,

and he looks back, Jack and Kralov. And then he looks at you too, read, I, I'm sorry. I, this, this is incredible. You are the acts of Thorold Flametong. Yes. How long have you been buried down here?

Time immemorial. But how do you have a voice? I'm so confused, Jack, how does that have a voice? Magic. Orksbletter, why don't you tell us a little bit about what it's been like living down here? It's been very dark. Tell us about, The king, Flame Tongue? How great was he? He was the most amazing, wasn't he?

Yes, he was. And like him, I disdain cowards and look forward to meeting blood in battle. Cool! Or Splitter, you're going to be a great part of the team. We're all real cool here. Are you hungry? And, like, Redd gets down on his haunches and he's like, I maybe have something. And he, like, reaches into his pack looking for something to feed an axe. Do you eat? What do you eat? Do you eat any? During an orc splitter is a battered-looking axe. It is unremarkable at first glance. But as you turn it over in your hands, you see that the head of the axe is graven with the dwarven ruins for orc.

But the runes are depicted with a gap or like slash through the markings so that the word orc is literally like split into. Interesting. Mm-hmm. And the hilt is like vibrating in your head. hands and it says to you you're a dwarf of good alignment right i can feel it i am we're going to be great friends we are i guess i'd like to attune to it yeah it's going to take you an hour to attune to it i mean i could spend an hour down here jack as you walk the perimeter of this dais you see that it is carved with a similar couplet as was the sarcophagus outside, but it's slightly different.

It says, here lies his noble majesty, king-torled flame tongue. He raised a kingdom in the sun. May his reign never be forgotten. Well, I can't speak for the rest of us, but I've got what we came for. Red, who's still, like, crouched holding a piece of bread, just like puts it away and stands up. All right. And walks over to Creel off. Isn't that cool? A new axe friend. She seems real nice. That's absolutely incredible. I haven't seen anything like it. Doran takes his own axe, the bloodmaker, which is a very finely crafted axe, but it hasn't. Yeah. It's different. You know, I kind of picture... It's iron fist steel. Yeah. I kind of picture it being like pretty and extremely sharp and ornate and intricate.

And it's got like weird edges. And it's like, you know, like a much prettier. axe look at and then there's orc splitter which is like much heavier it's got a thicker head and it's more of a blunt almost like a splitting axe versus a chopping axe if you ever seen the difference between those two and he takes bloodmaker and he puts it into the hands of the effigy of thorough flame tongue as sort of like just to hold the place you feel emotions through the haft, into the handle, into your hands. This weapon is radiating gratitude. Torild, if you can hear this,

I just want to say, on behalf of all of our kind, thank you, thank you for what you've done. Thank you for giving us the freedom and the start that we needed and showing us the light. Because if it weren't for you, we would never have come out of the darkness. That was wonderful, Doran. My face relaxes and I look at the three of you and I say,

I want to say thank you. Thank you for bringing me here and thank you for the experiences that I've had since we've met. I can't thank you enough. I can't be more grateful. I would have never got here without all of you either. I'm so glad we got to be here to witness that, Doran. I'm glad you're feeling it. You're welcome.

And red turns around and begins to head to the exam. You guys ascend the stairs back up into the day. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm hoping that Kieran can give Oren the signal when we're ready to open the door for us again. Sure, yeah, that all goes on without a hitch. Beautiful. And you stand blinking in the late evening.

Even though it's getting dark out still, the change in brightness from being 300 feet underground compared to being out in this crisp, cold night. Well, let's say goodbye to this place. Glad we did it. Doran, cool new axe. Yeah. Ork splitter.

I feel like the kid, he can't stop looking at his new toy after the day. Yeah. In fact, in fact, Orksbler, you should meet my bow. And he just holds out his regular bow. He's like, this was Rivers' bow called Dreammaker. It's beautiful. She eats bread. You want to.

I make sure to pull Orrin aside and show him this little illusion of what it looked like when Doran picked up the axe and put the other axe in there. And just like, if you find any inspiration in that, it's just a moment. We don't want to forget the king. It's what he asked for. That's wonderful. Thank you, Master Jack. So you collect B, where she was taking care of the horses in this ruined amphitheater. and I guess where do you go now?

It's coming on evening. Do you camp here for the night or? Let's make some footprints as Doran now. Yeah. Oral flame bearer. Stop. Let's move on and camp somewhere on the way to Beliard. It's all blushing.

I picture Doran like twisting one foot. Gaur. Yeah, and I think we make some footprints and then probably camp a little ways away. I put Ork Splitter in my sheath and try it and try to play it cool. Cute. Yeah. I mean, she's not very talkative, but occasionally she'll chime

in and be like, wow. Wow, it's nice up here. Yeah. This ruin used to be the kingdom. And whenever Red hears her talk, he like offers her a different piece of food, not understanding that she doesn't need sustenance.

It's like, well, she talks, so she needs food. What else do you want? fish, jerky? As you settle down for the evening, Doran, you attuned to this axe and you discover the following qualities about her. Okay. So while you are wielding this great axe,

which has different stats than a battle axe, so make sure that you note those, you will no longer be able to use a shield while you are wielding her. Unfortunately, it's a two-handed weapon, but you roll a D-12. You gain a plus two bonus to attack and damage rolls. When you roll a Nat 20 on an attack roll with this weapon against an orc,

the orc has to succeed on a constitution saving throw or be auto killed, basically. You can't be surprised by orcs while you're not incapacitated. You're aware of any orcs within 120 feet of you. And you and your friends within 30 feet of you cannot be frightened when you're wielding this act. Whoa. That's so cool. Handy. Wow.

I always like things that give not just the beholder, you know, an advantage, but it gives like the party an advantage. That's cool. Yeah. So because you have this legendary weapon, you are, you cut such a figure that your friends are bolstered by you. The morale of the party just sky off. You know, Krales, I'm not as frightened with don't around us. I mean either.

I can feel the inspiration coming off of that. that axe. So team, we've tackled Dredhawk, we've gotten this axe. Where to next? I think we say as we're like turning in for the night. Shadow Top Cathedral, right? Bingo, bango! That would make me super happy.

Liffreliss's contact. Yeah. Good old tree boy. His old master was up there. And then I guess, is it Everland after that? Sure. Do we want to take the road or do we're going to cut through the woods? Up to a point we can take road and then we're going to be treking through the woods, I think.

I'm not sure where Shadow-Tocet. is in the, you know, exactly in this forest, but the high forest is pretty, pretty big. Well, since we don't know exactly where it is, but we know it's in the high forest, maybe we should go to Everland first, or at least a town near the high forest and ask? Yeah, that's a good idea. Did Liverless give us any more, like, geographic information? I'm sure we must have. He told you it was near to the lost peaks.

So there are mountains that rise out of the center of, the high forest? Yeah, and so I'll make sure to highlight those on my little illusion to say Liverless gave us near the high peaks. They're sort of in this section of it. And so I think we can take the road as far as we can before we cut in and start looking around. Shadow Top kind of gives me the sense of a high place.

Hell, I like the sign of that. Let's do it. I'm ready for a bit of travel, some adventure, some high... Did you want any of this? He holds a piece of beep jerky out to the axe. Just checking. But I'll have some things, right? And he bites it right out of your hand.

Yeah. So it's about a day from Bissilmer to Grudhog, and then another day from Grudhog to Bellyard. Are you going to be heading up along that same road? I don't see why not. Yeah, and I mean, personally, I would love to just swing through Belliard. I don't think we need to spend more time there. Yeah, let's do it. I agree.

So it's the end of the 23rd when we're camping tonight? This is one month game time. You guys are back in Belliard. So Jundar's Pass cuts through the desert and hills from Balliard up to an intersection where you know that there's a small village. It's on a lot of maps just as kind of an inn that's called Calling Horns. It meets with the Evermore Way that borders the northern side of the high forest. So that would be probably a good place to swing in

if you're interested in coming at the forest from the north. You guys head out of Belyard, the morning of the 26th, probably, just as the first storm of the winter blows in. I think in Belyard, I would have bought some winter clothes. After kind of coming out of the ruins, Red definitely started to understand why snow is so potent. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

So he's got this big thick winter coat with like, you know, fur. I do love the image of us now bundled up on these horses, like ready for it to travel winter, like big heavy cloaks and wool hats. Yeah, it was clear to you from your travels up from Bissilmer to Belliard that the cutting wind is only going to get worse as the weather progresses and as you continue traveling north. So you guys do some shopping. Red, you have a new winter coat and anyone else have a parka? For myself and beat.

I almost picture Jack with stylish new, you know, nice winter coat and Kraloth with like some winter wear and Doran with some winter wear. And then there's red with this like big, poofy fur. He's wearing like blue snow pants. Yeah. Like slush pants. Just like a big hood. I'm just, yeah. Hey dudes.

I'm cool too. I have to go pee. So you've been traveling north along the high forest for two days. and you're stopped for a noon meal. I think we're like along the edge of the woods, sort of, you know, ducking in every once in a while, maybe hunting something from the wood and bringing it back out. Absolutely.

Yeah, exactly. So you guys are off your horses. Ah, I'm starting to like this, snow. Suddenly, a white bird dives out of the sky from some height, plummeting in a streak of speed to crash into the ground at your feet, Jack. Whoa! It erupts in a shower of downy white feathers, but where the bird's dead body should be, instead,

a folded parchment hovers a foot or two off the ground, gently turning in space. Your name is written on the front, Jack Page. Yeah, I'd love to go investigate. There are three pieces of parchment folded together. The first is a letter. The second is covered in arcane writing. The third is a smaller piece contains a ruin or sigil of some kind.

Do you want to read it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. So the letter reads, Jack Page. Could it truly be more than a decade since we last spoke, though I suppose ten years feels longer to those of us not blessed by the longevity of elven bloodlines? It is I, Dizan of Luskan. Doubtless you're wondering why an old school chum has reached out to you so flamboyantly, I wanted to extend to you the opportunity to witness your own defeat.

Despite, or perhaps because of my condensed lifeline, I have accomplished that which you could not. Maybe you remember a quiet afternoon or two in the hallowed halls of our boyhood learning, with us pouring over an ancient tomes stolen from the archives, dreaming about what power and accolades would be heaped upon us should we be authored to a similar such academic discovery? Perhaps you even distinctly remember arguing which of us would be first to unearth some artifact of the first age. For me, this memory is crystallized, ingrained, formative,

and I've spent much of my professional life competing with you, your memory. Unless my informants are worth less than I pay them, these last years you are busy chasing ogres around and playing in the dirt. I, for my part, have been more focused. Join me now in East Haven of Icewind Dale, as I unveil my magnum opus, an archaeological site that will have me remembered forever as the foremost scholar of this age. I won't spoil the details for you. Suffice it to say that I've won our argument, fair and square, and I simply won't. take no for an answer. After all, no master but the tower. Deson of East Haven, late of Luskin. Post-script, I'm sure you'll be needing this. You can repay the favor later. The second

parchment is a spell scroll for teleportation circle. Well, that's cool. You fumble with the third piece of parchment as it slips from your hand fluttering to the ground. As it touches the frosty grass, it vanishes, replaced by a 10-foot diameter circle of shifting and glowing ice-blue runes and symbols. It grows in clarity and intensity for a few seconds before seemingly snapping into place, upon which a 10-foot-high portal opens, glaringly white and burning with arcane energy. I'm assuming we see all this, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's absolutely incredible. Kralov comes up behind you and is looking over quizzically at this. This is incredible.

What the hell is this, Jack? Who is this design? Do you know this guy? Is he a good guy? Tricky. I mean, yeah. Jack, you feel compelled to walk into this portal. You're not sure if it's the weight of your history or something else.

I look at Krala, sort of with a wide eyes. And I see Jack's face, and I know what's happening next. So I say, right, and I'll turn back to B in the horses. You, you two stay here. Just keep things safe. We shouldn't be too long. All right, be safe. Of course, yes.

We will. Thank you. Craylath, you're coming too, right? I'm right behind you. And you each step through the portal. The first thing that hits you is the cold. It knocks the breath out of you, freezes your eyelashes, turns your breath into smoke.

And as you look around, the blanket of snow covering everything and the dark sky turns everything bleak, black and white, and quiet. You're far, far away from the high forest. You're in Icewindale. A mysterious portal to an unknown world! Yes, please! Thank you once again to our great old one Patreon supporters, Adam Fry, Megan Shepardson, Christopher Ryan Evans, and Michael and Brianna Webber. You make us want to be better, people. See you next time.