Dice Shame - 74 | 'Info Dump'

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

Answers come from an unlikely source as the party finally understands the big picture and where they are meant to head next… 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.

Do you know who made it or why they were made? There's something about that axe, guys. Yes, I killed a fire giant carrying one of these as well. Am I dumb? What's that? Like, can we not go in his pocket or something? Timelines diverged and there was one where Dorian was whole. It's not me. It's just not me. You were the worst.

Can you tell us what your AC is? You may not like to watch this part. Be ready. When we return for to kill giants. Okay? Do you need a moment to think? Welcome back to Dishame. This is episode 74, InfoDump.

MVP this week is Jay Frostgarde on Twitter for their amazing review of Dishame. And for saying that red is hilarious. If you're looking for a unique gift idea that will also transport your favorite beverage to your mouth, listen closely. Our lovely friend James Schwartz is also a very talented potter, who's got a gorgeous selection of hand-thrown mugs, bowls, teapots, and more. I recently commissioned a set of three unique mugs for our family, and Harlan can attest that I don't really drink coffee out of anything else anymore. It's a self-gift.

For beautiful one-of-a-kind items, visit his ceramic shop on Etsy. That's Etsy.com slash shop slash J-Schwart's art. That's unfortunately case-specific guys, capital J, capital S, C-H-W-A-R-Z, Capital A-R-T. All right. Should we do this? Yeah, let's do it. Hey, hey.

I've been playing this game of Dungeons and Dragons virtually for the past year or so, but it just makes me really wish that we had a chance to play on a map with minis again. Do you guys remember when you used to cram into this room with minis for your little characters? and I built that two-tiered map for us. I mean, I'm still in the room with you, so I'm still happy. It counts. Yeah, it counts. Have you guys ever painted minis for yourselves?

Yeah, I've done one or two, and I wasn't terrible. It's too, like, detailed for me. It is, but I love doing it because it's very meditative at the same time. I can just put hours and hours. So do you paint minis regularly? No, not regularly, but I had, in university, I had it, I painted a couple minis for Chris, Chris's campaign. Nerd. I painted a bunch of Warhammer minis in high school, but it's not fun for me.

It's just not the right kind of relaxing. I'm in that golf where I'm not good enough at it to or and I just don't like it. That's where I'm at. Yeah. It's not satisfying enough and it's not. Like to me, it just becomes a bit tacked. It's funny because I tried it. Like we bought a paint set and we're like, okay, cool.

And I sat down. We did it. And it looked good. And I was like, I don't want to do this again. But I love having them. I love, I love, like, I think minis are really cool. I think that there's something really... We'll send them to Justin and he'll paint them all.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't have time to paint them. I just, I just like it when I do. To me, it's similar. Some people really like puzzles, and to me I'm knife edge with puzzles. Sometimes I enjoy them, and sometimes I'm like, this is too time consuming for the result. I don't enjoy it.

Let's do a puzzle. It's puzzle time. Record a podcast of us putting together a puzzle. That would be so boring. I think this is the right one. There must be a puzzle podcast. Oh, edge piece. Edge piece.

Where you just shoot the shit around a puzzle. I got a greeny blue piece with a sheep on it. Anyone? Anybody? I got a corner. Let's get the corners. I'm doing the blue part. So here's something I must admit.

So I got this mini of Doran made, right? By Anvil. Yes. And my son was sitting on my lap a little while ago. And he's like, can I play with that? And I said, yeah, but don't move him. He doesn't move. So like, and I'm working or whatever, right?

And I look over and he's got tears in his eyes. And he's like, he's crying. And I said, what's wrong? He says, I broke the axe head off. He's just holding a stick. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, some outdoors is his fighting stick. Ork splitter is split.

He was just so upset about it. I was like, it's okay. It's okay. Because he knew it was special to you. I'm like it's broken now. It's never going back. It is now broken. You will never ever, no, I'm just kidding.

Irreparably. No dinner tonight. Go to bed. Like my heart. This was more important to me than you are. Timelines diverged and there was one where Dorian was whole and there's one where Doran's broken and this is where we are now. These aren't toys.

They're mini figs. That's right. We're not playing with toys here. We're real serious adults. Exactly. It's not a game. You guys want to play some imaginary games? Nice.

So you're traveling through the forest with this huge frost giant. He's introduced himself. As Harshnag, he's mentioned to you that he's no enemy of the small folk, though he's been hunted by these dwarves before. He's shortened his stride for you to allow you to keep up with him. And the morning is wearing on. You're heading deeper into the forest with him. Are these your woods? Do you reside here?

No, I don't reside anywhere. I'm a traveler. Been hunting giants. Hey, we know that feeling, friend. We're a bit of the same. You've been hunting giants? Yes. Doran's mind is suddenly distracted from his thoughts. So, what can you tell us about the ordained?

Well, it used to be a caste system. With storm giants at the top, cloud giants, frost, fire, stone, hill, and then Etton, other lesser creatures. But it's been broken months ago. All giants felt it simultaneously. What broke it? Harshnag drops to one knee in front of you, Krayaloth in the snow. He picks up a huge handful of it and sniffs it delicately. And then he crushes it into like a giant snowball with both hands.

Anam, the All-Father, is God above all giants and he created us. And in creating us, he set us apart from each other. And he breaks off a hunk of this snowball and he sets it to one side. storm giants the highest of giant society they employ monarchy system he breaks off another piece of this snowball and sets it aside cloud giants aristocrats they value extravagance above all fire giants well they form rank based on forging ability frost giants value martial prowess above everything this ball of snow is getting smaller and smaller he's breaking it apart heart into little pieces. Stone giants are mysterious and xenophobic. Little is known about their society by outsiders. Even other giants find them difficult to understand. Hill giants are gluttons, dullards, putting most stock in the largest. Bigger is better. And then he looks at his little army of snow figurines, each of them about as tall as one of you. And he, with a sweep of his hand,

crushes them all into the surrounding snow and stands back up, wiping his hands on his armor. Annam the All-Father, unsettled more than just the ordaining these past few months. All giants know innately that the ordaining has been broken, but I don't know why yet. However, I do know that these giants are in an uproar. It has been said that the Storm Giant court has all but lost its head. Who is its head? And he continues traveling through the woods. He looks down at you, Jack, walking beside him.

King Hackaton and Queen Neri. Rumors tell that the king and queen are missing. That turmoil engulfs the storm giant court. That they've left their citadel, leaving their daughters in charge. Like all other giants, it seems that chaos has taken hold. This order, such as it was, is no more. It's possible now that even the stupidest hill giant could see themselves as potential ruler of all giants, if only they were able to show themselves worthy to their god, to Anam.

Huh. The daughters of King Hecaton and Queen Neri, do you know their names? Where is their citadel? I don't know. Okay. And how do you know this? Do you speak with Annam the All-Father? No, he has been silent.

You say that you're sent to reord in the giants? Yes. What does that mean? We don't know exactly. All we know is that we are integral to the reordoning. Zephyros, a cloud giant wizard, found us, and that was his supposition based on his contact with other planes. And that's sort of how we've got thrown together on this path.

We were pretty worried because there is an obelisk at Nightstone that's a place my friend used to live. It was taken by cloud giants. So any of that ring a bell or any reason why they might want this night stone? Harsh Nag starts to walk more slowly with hunched shoulders. His footfalls quiet and he starts to stalk through the snow like a cloud in the sky. and he takes the bow off of his back and strings it. He's speaking now more quietly. No, I don't know anything specifically about a knight stone.

But that would make sense, given a cloud giant would be interested in magical artifacts. So again, we were speaking with Zephyros. We'd spotted the castle that Zephyros thought was that belonged to the Countess Sansuri in the clouds flying in this area. Have you run across her or her castle or know what she might be up to? And maybe I'll pull up, Jack, I'll pull up a map and kind of have it try and float five feet above his head to just sort of point at all the giant things we know about so he can sort of get a sense of where we are and what we're doing. Jack, as you're busy, like, casting this map and making sure that all the details are accurately portrayed and concentrating on this spell, a giant quadruped crests the ridge of a hill in front of you, browsing the tops of nearby

fur trees. Its heavy winter coat does nothing to disguise the impressive musculature of this massive animal. Its rack of horns branching some 12 feet, a giant elk. These rare animals inspire legend among many communities of the north. This one is particularly big. It's the size of a small cottage. And Jack, as you finish this illusory map and look up, you see this elk's ears twitch once. It raises its head and then an arrow sprouts out of its chest. The magnificent animal just reels and takes a couple of running steps and then collapses heavily in the snow. And Harshnag leaves your side muttering to you. I don't know anything about a countess. Okay. Wow. Harshag, the green dragon told us that you could show us the

spine of the world. What is that besides a temple of Allfather? And why would you be the one to show us it? What lies there? He's like walking over to this kill of his hunt. Good shot. Yeah, really. And he says, worries me that you heard this from a green dragon, but maybe what it said was wisdom. I think it would be a good idea to go to the eye. To speak with Anam. He's been quiet so long. about his plans for his people. So much of giant-kind is in an uproar and if what you say is true that you're meant to help with the reordening,

then we should find out how. We can consult with the oracle and learn how to best end the giant's threat in the north. So at the spine of the world, we can talk to Adam? Maybe. If he deems us worthy, I can take you there.

Wow. Yeah, I guess knowing. why we're here and what all this is about. Yes, absolutely, yes. Have you spoken with him yourself? Herschnag kneels in the snow beside the dying giant elk and slits its throat with a dagger, blood coursing out onto the snow and raising tendrils of steam.

No, haven't spoken with anem personally, but it is told that you can. Dorn, kneels down and smells the fresh blood. Something about an animal's blood. He takes his finger and dips it in and licks it and then wipes his brow with it. And then wipes his beard with it. You know, this is answering so many questions that I've had for so long. Very, uh, impressive to meet you, Harsh Nag.

Yes, it is. It's overwhelming and awesome to, to meet someone like you. And I just, you know, when we, when we were fighting Chief Gah at Guddhog and took her down, we ended up finding this conch shell. Do you recognize this shell? Does it mean anything to you? We think it transports it somewhere. I pull it out and I show.

And Jack's trying to do it in a way just to connect with this guy at all to be like, well maybe if we show off we're badass and we kill the chief hill giants or something he'll... Maybe that's what transports us to Adam. The shell could take you to the king to his court. Where the two sisters are left in charge.

Yes. And then as Jack is holding us, holding up the conch, red reaches into the bag and pulls out the coin that we got from the box. And he also says, what about this? Do you recognize this? He just shakes his head and he looks into each of your faces. You may not like to watch this part. He takes out a sharp skinning knife and he makes an incision on the elk's belly and its innards just starts spilling out all over the snow. My gut feel is this isn't worse than anything Doran's done.

in front of us for a... I was just about to say, yeah. Doren literally just licked the blood on this thing. Red, well, you're digging around in that bag. Pull out the rod of the Von and Dodd, too. We took this off a fire giant. We know it detects adamantium things. I don't know what a vonondod is,

but the fire giants seem to be really interested in it. Does any of that ring a bell? He nods, knowledgeably. Yes, I killed a fire giant carrying one of these as well. It is not a unique item. Well, don't make it feel mundane. It was a lot of work. Doran kind of looks at the giant pointing at the dead elk and says,

May I? No. No, you may not. Oh. Just like lightly smacks you away and Doran flies into a tree. Yeah. But you don't know what the fire giants are doing or what Avonandat is? This I don't know.

You said that you were hunting giants. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that's been like? What kind of giants have you run into? I've killed stone, hill, fire, and frost. Frost as well, your own kind. Oh, yes. Most of the frost giants that I know are among the most evil and vicious creatures on this planet.

Where do you think your path diverged from them? Hmm, since I was born. Oh, yeah? I know that feeling, brother. Hmm. There's been rumblings. ever since our conversation with the green dragon, I've had a creeping suspicion that perhaps there's something stronger behind this.

The war between the dragons and the giants has been a long fought one, and we've had a suspicion that perhaps a dragon is behind all of this. Do you have any knowledge or thoughts on which dragon that might be or who could be behind all this? And I sort of gesture to the dragon's skull on his head. And I don't think this is something that Red specifically stated to you guys. So maybe he looks, he sort of looks at the others. This is something that he's been percolating on since Everland.

You speak well, Red. There is no love lost between giants and dragons. It's curious that you were directed to me by a dragon. Yeah. Is there any great and powerful dragon that could want to see this ordaining come apart that comes to mind? many of them i'm sure would love to see the downfall of dragon kind you uh seem to be alone here do you have any allies other giants or communities among the small folk who've been helping you in your cause to stop or thwart aggressive giants i occasionally find help with the small folk though most of the giant kind that i encounter are evil As you might imagine, most communities fear me, and so I don't enter towns and cities, apart from Waterdeep occasionally. Does trying to picture this person in Water Deep ring any stories or things that I might have known being a kid from there?

Maybe in passing you wouldn't have encountered him personally necessarily. Okay. I've been having a dream about craggy. purple rocks. It's along a coast, a shattered jewel of a coast. Scrubby trees and humans with bronze skin. They throw a child into the water and they seem to have gild. I know it sounds a little far-fetched, but does any of that mean anything to you? Sometimes dreams contain deep knowledge, little one, but I know no such place. I'm at home here in the cold north. He's like pulling the guts out of this animal and laying it out on the snow and tying this carcass up

into a bundle, sort of hefting it up on his one shoulder. So what's the trek to the spine of the north going to be like, do you think? Well, for me, I can get there easily, but for you small folk, it would be quite a problem. How do you mean? Is it closer to Mirabah? Much closer. It's the far north. Well, we have a quick way of getting to that city, at least. What do you mean? We've access to teleporter with the Harper Majes in Evelyn that we can use. And I think I've got the map up in front of us and highlighted the five circles that I think

are connected with some sort of symbol on them and annotating this conversation we've been having. And so as Red mentions the circles, I'll sort of add them to the map. I could meet you in Mirabar in eight days. That would be lovely, yes. Okay. And I sort of look towards Jack, who

must be elated a little bit because I know Torin's still on your mind. Yeah. The sad fact is, so yeah, we could go to water deep, but we'd have to leave before the Feast of the Moon, which is the big holiday to get to Mirabar in eight days, because I think that doesn't add up, which is the one Torner's like, you should come home for the holidays. And they're like, yeah, we'd love to. So I'll come home for a few days, but leave before the holiday. All right, work, you know. On Octar 25th, we will meet you there. Whose skull is that?

And I point to his head. He touches it briefly with the thoughtful, you know, Air of reminiscence, an old enemy. This conch of teleportation, the shell, do you know who made it or why they were made or why they would take someone to the court of King Hecaton? To meet with the king, I would presume. And are they given to each of the heads of the giant tribes?

I know there exists at least one among the frost giants. Where is that one? I don't rightly know. What would we need to be worthy of Anam's audience? If you are who the cloud giant said you are, audience would be granted. We're going to get there, and there's going to be like an elven woman,

a human fighter, and they're like talking. Yeah, like much more. Different crew of people that Zephyros picked up like a day after you and was like, you guys are the people. He's been doing this like for the last three weeks. These are the Moonshake crew and that's the Tethere crew.

I'm so sorry. No, but they're actually the heroes and we're the ones that are faking it. Like we're like, oh, he's not talking about us. You mentioned there is an Oracle. Is there someone up there? Can you tell us more about them? In a minute. Always got his notes. We're asking the good questions

because she has to look up the book. Let me think. No. I feel like there are questions that I have, but I can't think of them. You're not allowed to think, Dorn. No, think. You don't get paid to act. Doren is stupid. You know, I think about this, actually. I'm watching

Jack and Red taking notes. And I think that there is some value for a podcast for being the person who isn't taking notes, who just forgets everything. So that when these questions come up, like after 30 episodes, we're not all bumping shoulders. Thanks for me. Thanks for justify. See, we're doing, we're doing a service, Alex. I also love that, Justin, you're like, new year, new notes. I'm taking notes. I got my pencil and notepad lasted one or two recording sessions. And here we are. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. I left it on my, my bookshelf back there. Mind you?

I can't spin around now. It's not me. It's just not me. It's like those resolutions. You know, that's a New Year's resolution class. That is. It really is. Two weeks in, you're like,

meh, this is useless. The giant lords of Astoria would go to the eye of the world for divine wisdom to speak with the oracle. I don't know what kind of a presence this oracle is. She an old black lady who makes cookies?

Probably. I mean, that's kind of the cliche. shit, right? Astoria. Am I dumb? What's that? That's the old giant kingdom with the O, I think, right? Mm-hmm. The one that the dragons fucked up, I think. Yep. So we're going to go and meet him at the spine of the world, but like, in Miramar or whatever. Malamar. So you're going to fast travel to Mirabar.

We're going to fast travel to Waterdeep. Malamute. Spend a couple of days. Can we not go in his pocket or something to travel with him? Why would we want to go eight days when we could just go back to Everland and zap there? Are there any major threats that you know about, maybe bases of operations from the various different clans of giants? The frost giants are spread throughout the north, but a large concentration of them is present in the sea of moving ice. We are a seafaring race. Can I just say, that's fucking awesome and sea of moving ice?

What a great name, guys. You Fehrunians really do it cool with the names. Back in Mazdica, it's called Toll Toul Trees. or sandy sandy booboo that's the desert yes even the dwarves are call things very simply like the deep deep deep chasm and that dark dark chasm and the deep deep deep chasm and then there's the deep dark chasm deep rock stone rock and deep casem deep so darn pipes up and he says uh what what have you heard as far as we're king hecaton and queen nary have gone is is there Is there any rumor about why they're missing or where they've gone to?

The queen went missing first, and then the king. How many daughters are there? Three daughters. Three daughters. But what are they doing in their absence? Ruling, as far as I know. If things aren't going too well right now, they're probably not ruling very well. Do you have any magic items that you want to give us?

He hefts his axe and looks down at it fondly. No. Oh, is that a magic axe? Yes. Cool. This is Gerson. Great Axe. And Jack, you actually recognize that name.

This is a magical great axe that was given to this heroic creature by the city of Waterdeep many decades ago when he came to the defense of the city. That's awesome. That's a gift from Waterdeep, right? It is the only civilization that can tolerate me. It's my hometown. I don't know if you know, uh, Maskar Wands. He shakes his head.

They cowered in fear while I... In fact, he shit himself. Jesus. Just like really excited. We were part of that. You were the worst. Jack, you know that this great axe deals extra damage to human targets. It's like it fucks up human creatures.

Yo, who the fucking Waterdeep gives a giant an axe that does more damage to them. Here, giant, now you can kill us real good. There's something about that axe, guys. I don't know if you guys are feeling this too, but I get real bad vibes from the guys. It's looking at me. Wait, does it humans are humanoid? Humans.

Like, Krayloth's the only one who's... I'm good. He's like, given the he be geniuses. It doesn't bother me. It bothers half of Jack. The lower half is tingling. Hey, can you tell us what your AC is? We're going to be going up against some other Frost Giants and...

He just shrugs and he's like, it's very good. Yeah, I can imagine. As night begins to fall, Harshnag leads you to a narrow escarpment that splits the crust of the snow along a stand of cedar trees. He builds a decent-sized bonfire

and sets to work skinning the giant elk. And here now, Doren, he turns to you and nods inviting you to join in. It's a lot of work, even for a giant. He kind of stands up and Doren begins to carve out large man-sized pieces of steak, elk steaks. He's got a set of giant-sized skinning knives, long, bladed, and sharp. And he spreads the skin out on sharpened tree limbs near the fire to dry.

Then he starts preparing the meat for himself. And you take care of the cuts for you, Doran. Do you mind if I take a couple of those slabs there, Doran? In fact, what I'm doing, yeah, I'm cutting them and saying, I think Kralath You'd be better at preserving these Oh yeah, of course And Krayloff already has

His leg drying rack out With different salts And yeah Yeah, yeah And Doren cuts off Some bite-sized slices For those who want The raw elk meat

And I think while the others Are a bit distracted And sort of going about What they're doing Red sits down next to Harsh Nag And I've had a trait For a long time

Called favored enemy Which allows me to know information about giants and things like that. And we just haven't had a reason that Red knows about it. But I think Red would love to pick his brain, having fought so many giants, and just ask him questions like, you know, what are some of the weaknesses a fire giant would have? And what are some of the benefits to killing a hill giant?

And just sort of pick his brain about what various things, just to better inform Red, so that next time we're hunting one, he can sort of call out places to hit. Cool. Strengths and weaknesses. Exactly. he holds his hand out to you and you see it blue and white in the firelight and he turns it over and he says i will never be impeded or damaged in any way by frost or ice for the cold does not bother frost giant and yeah he tells you as much as you can think of as much as you can ask to know awesome that's

exciting great so i suppose in the morning we will go our separate ways and meet you in eight days in that northern city, Malomar. Mirabar. I'll take you as far as Everland, and then yes, we'll part ways. If we've got an hour this evening while people are making dinner and stuff. We do. Doren, maybe we should send a letter to the captain just to make sure he doesn't wonder what happened to us. You know, something that leaves the impression that, you know, our deal of he should sit tight and not be a

terrorist for a couple of months is still in impact, even though we've left. If you want to transcribe something to say to him, I can transmit that image in a letter to him, and he'd see it just as you presented it. Of course. Of course. I think that would be a great idea. Great, great idea. So just say to me exactly what you'd like to say to him, and I will send that in a letter. Okay. Here we go. Chaos Hammer. It's the Knightstone 4. Be ready when we return for, uh, to kill giants. Okay.

Do you need a moment to think? So I'm going to do a minor illusion of exactly that back and give you like a, do you want to redo? Yeah, yeah, do that. Like a little like Microsoft assistant shows up on the side of your parchment is like, I think you mean to say. If you are happy with your best, are you sure you want to send?

There is no subject line. Um, it looks like you've made some spelling mistakes. Okay, okay. Maybe we could say... We might go back and forth a few times to get, like, the perfect message Doran's comfortable with, but... Okay, all right, here. How about this?

Captain Chaos Hammer, no sign of a frost giant after all. And Doran kind of looks around nodding for others... Harsh nagwinks. Others' approval. Yeah, yeah, I yell. We have taken the opportunity to attend to the business with King Harneth. Be prepared to battle with giants upon our return. And with respect to that other matter, you'll have my response shortly.

And he kind of grumbles that and mumbles it without giving too much attention. What other matter? Jack. It's nothing. It's a personal discussion we were. It's no, nothing. Don't worry about it, Jack. Jack presses his face up to you.

Can I roll insight? I'm not good at it, but. If Rob's. rolling insight on you, then yeah, you would have to, it's a contested role. You would roll deception. Use your inspiration. Uh, 12. I got a six, so you're fine. Ah. I would not beat that without using my inspiration. The one thing I would say is instead of no sign of a giant, just nothing but tracks. Uh, something like that. Yeah, we don't, we don't need to lie. Because it's just an illusion I'm going to create, you don't actually need to say it again. I can

just like play back whatever I want. I can make you say anything. I'm... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that makes me uncomfortable. Because it's illusionary. What did we talk about again? Yeah.

What was that conversation we had, Chaos Hammer? Can you repeat that for me? You do deep fakes. The note will be a transcription of what Doran says, you know, and it will have this little minor illusion of Doran speaking it. Yeah, and Red Watches, you edit it, and he walks and he was like, hold on, you can have anyone say anything? Well, the illusion that goes with it can, you know, the less,

letter will still be things I've written on the page, but we, that's, you know, we can include maps or pictures or whatever we, we want with them. You could have Chaos Hammer apologize to the king in a letter, is what I'm, and not saying I would do that, but you could have someone say that? I mean, I think the letter would still be coming from me, but sure, we could show an illusion of what Chaos Hammer might look like apologizing, and I'll show Chaos Hammer just being like, I'm a big derp, bub, and a little illusion in my hand, and be like, I mean, yeah, it's, it's just illusions. I know exactly what he looks like when he was talking to is I can fake it,

all right? I mean, it's not, it's, it's way better when it's a genuine thing. I'm not very good at lies. Interesting. If you turn bad, Jack, you could do a lot of damage. He's going to be our next big bad. I mean, he might be the big bad. Yeah. Everyone goes to sleep in Lehman's tiny hut. Harshnag is kind of splayed out by the fire nearby as it burns to ash, red you're walking on a beach in the dark you hear the sounds of waves beating against the shore you feel the drag of the ocean at your feet the moon hangs brightly in the sky round and beautiful it turns into a coin and drops flipping and you catch it in your palm the wooden token bearing a painted golden goose is spinning on its edge you feel the pull of the water as waves cr crash over your feet, sea foam and shells blazing brightly in the dark. A piece of slippery kelp touches your ankle, wraps around your leg, and you are tripped. You taste salt, maybe even blood.

The rush of water, and you're pulled down deep into the sea. The coin is back in the sky, and it fades from sight as you are dragged into the black water. when you wake up blood crusts your cheek you've bitten your lip quite badly and red sits up and he's actually outside of the tent in the snow and he's holding the coin in his hand so tightly that his nails are digging into his own palm and he just opens his hand loosely and puts the coin away and stands up and heads back to the tent sort of like in a stupor and goes back to sleep Meanwhile, Doran's been having his own nightmares. Ooh, what are you dreaming about? The sounds of battle ring in my ears. Thunder and lightning surround me. I'm with my friends, Kraloth, Red, Jack, B, and Orin in a circle.

They are dancing, singing, laughing. The sounds of battle ring deafening in my ears, though. I look up to see the shadow of a cliff against the lightning lit cloudy sky as another lightning strike flashes the peak of the cliff explodes with flames and light flashes the face of kremlin my ex-goblin wife through a cloud of smoke the peak of the mountain comes crashing down upon myself and my party of friends as i wake suddenly in a cold sweat gasping for air it's dark i tell myself it's just a dream and I go back to sleep.

So everyone has kind of a hard night. Harshnag doesn't seem to have noticed. You see that Harshnag's got this skin that's now been cured by the fire and he's rolling it up and strapping it on to his pack. Red wakes up and starts rolling up his bed roll and he's got this sort of, you know, concerned look on his face. And I think, I feel like he looks over to Doran, who's doing the same. And they both have like the same look.

Yeah. And then both sort of lie. We'd be like, oh, tough night's sleeping. Yeah, um, rocky ground here. Yeah, yeah. And he pushes his bed roll into his bag. Yeah, that's all it was. And we both stand up and like walk out of the tent trying to hide our.

Morning, everyone. Good morning. Morning. Morning. So I know we've got a couple of downtime days between now and needing to be in Mirabar. I'm really hoping to go to Waterdeep. You know, I don't want to presume that you guys would all necessarily come with me. if you have something else you want to do in the next couple of days,

but I did get a letter from Torin suggesting there was a fake Kieran there, and I need to go make sure he's okay. Kieran, who's sitting beside you, shakes their head with reproach. How dare they? That's how I feel, buddy. I'm with you. I mean, Jack, to me, it comes down to whether you want us there or not. We're happy to support you if you need us.

We're a team. I mean, you can find worse places to kill some time in the water deep, That's definitely true. I'm sure Oren and B would love to go back, visit it. Yeah, maybe. I, uh, she was actually around Waterdeep, probably longer than all of us. Well, right, Jack. You're fucking Wadadadavian. We get it. It's a pretty great city. The break we got at the high forest at Shattertop Cathedral was really lovely, but it rang kind of hollow for me. I wouldn't mind feeling a little homesick. I wouldn't mind spending some time around Waterdeep if we've got it.

I could also go for some population. Well, then it's settled. Let's go back to Everland, help through the portal. We're going back to Waterdeep. Thank you once again to our Patreon supporters. Christopher Ryan Evans, Mitchell Cadwell, Jessica Orrett, Colin Burkatt, Daniel, Doug, Katie Orrett, and Merlin. See you soon! Hey, hey!