Dice Shame - 84 | 'Water Under the Bridge'

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

An old friend returns with an offer not easy to refuse... 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.

Evil? No. Selfish? Yes. It definitely was very concerning. Hey, what the hell happened to you? My wallet's so heavy. Can someone carry it? Oh, it's a big one. I'm confused. I feel like there's a D&D horror story somewhere in there. Yeah, you know what we call chaotic neutral.

That's a good question, Doran. I'll tell you all about it in the kitchen. I really need to know what's happening with this coin. People who brazenly put the devil god's symbol on their doors. Well, I mean, I guess we're at an impasse. Welcome back to Dice Shame, episode 84, Water Under the Bridge. MVP this week is at 90s court on Twitter who writes, that sinking feeling when a DM spends so much time getting you to love a town or NPC just a little too much, and now you're waiting for something terrible to happen to it.

hashtag save Yarder. I promise, Yarder is fine. Last week, you may have noticed a guest voice. That was none other than audiobook narrator and friend of the show, Jeff Hayes. You can find more of his amazing work at Soundbooth Theatre.com. Check out some of the amazing shows, including The Stars Have Eyes and Space Buns. Tons of wonderful audio to enjoy. Stop by and say hello from us. And thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Jeff. All right, should we do this thing? Let's do it. I don't know about you guys.

I'm sure it's really different based on your respective partners, but I personally am very grateful that I can talk with Harlan about Dungeons and Dragons. Oh, yeah. Talking shop. I mean, not that we necessarily like spill all the beans, but it's just so nice to be like, oh my God, we woke up this morning. I was like, oh my God, I'm so excited to play D&D today with you. Do you guys talk with your significance?

others about Dishame? Yeah. Rache and I talk about gaming and podcasting and all that stuff all the time just because it's a big part of our lives. I mean, Rache is big into the gaming culture as well. Yeah. And a lot about Dyshame, definitely about like Jack's arc and what he's up to and how poor Taurin is left alone in Waterdeep all the time. Does she have any insights that you'd like to share? I think mostly she's pretty proud that Galetz made it into the podcast. I would be too. That's fair. Is she a listener or does she just know about this through, like, osmosis through you? More, I would imagine, osmosis.

She's a wall listener. Yeah. I mean, she's listening through the wall right now. She hears your side of it. Hi, Rach. What about you guys, Alex, Justin? Yeah, I would say my wife is supportive. She has no interest in the role playing.

I think that's what makes us have such an interesting relationship. We have our own individual interests. Yeah, of course. She'll listen and she'll be polite about it. But, you know, what, she'll ask sometimes. she'll ask me some interesting questions. Do you think you could ever get her to sit down and play D&D with you? No.

I could barely get her to listen to, you know, 15 minutes. I think those are very different things, though, right? Like playing a game versus listening to people play a game. There's very different, engage very different parts of the brain. We played games last night, actually. We played a good game of chess last night. Oh, nice. And the night before we played a couple different, like we do Scrabble,

but it's just not in her blood to be this kind of like this sort of imagination stuff. It's nothing wrong with that. No, exactly. It's nice to she's a port. What about your son though? Oh, my son, quite the opposite. His favorite character is red. He runs around saying, I'm red, I'm red.

I've got, he's picking up sticks a little time saying he's got a bow and arrow. Me too. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. I shoot you. I shoot you. I can definitely relate Alex with having a partner that isn't as. interested. It's not necessarily something that my partner has explored. But actually, one of the

first things that we talked about when we first started dating was alignment. She dropped, she's chaotic evil one day. And I was like, oh, and you were like, got to date this woman. Wait, what did you say? And she's like, oh, I'm chaotic evil. Oh, it's this thing. And I was like, okay. Oh, I know what the thing is. I know what chaotic evil is. So with Nikki, I think we haven't play Dungeons and Dragons yet, but she's open to it. She has played it once before, and she would be down to play it again, but I think it would have to be an evil campaign. I'm hearing guest star. The same here. And you know what? Nothing compares to how we do Dungeons and Dragons. I have to say, I've played Dungeons and Dragons lots of people before. Nothing compares to how Dyshamer and Victus does it.

Yeah, we're pretty special. I'm hoping that that That's a good thing, Alex. I'm going to take it as a very sincere compliment. Dirt face campaign. Whether it be your DM style or just the vibe that I always get, you know, I've never had that with another group. I feel like there's a D&D horror story somewhere in there. Let's have our intros be self-congratulatory.

So you're standing on this frosty set of docks, the sound of the river and this clots of ice banging again. against the wood of the boats as you're just watching the quiet bustle of dock workers load and unload, barrels, casks, carts

of geese boxes. Shipmen from Everland came in. All manner of goods onto these barges. Ships are coming in, ships are leaving, but the mood overall on the dock side is kind of somber like everyone is nursing a hangover

together. Men and women are busy, but not shouting or jovial, just hard at work. It's been a while since we've talked to Zolkin. This is a dark-skinned, half-elf man with a well-groomed, oiled pompadour, one curl of which is like damply plastered to his forehead with sweat at the manual exertion he's been doing. He's the guy who met you in Nightstone, who... Tried to kill Krala.

Who met up with Kella, someone who had been working with a Zantaram. And then you met up with him again in Belliard, who brought you to the Hambrat house, actually. On my birthday. On your birthday. This is a man who knows seemingly a lot about a lot of things. And someone who, as it turns out, has got kind of a reputation for being a source of reputable information in Yarder. Zulkin dusts his hands on his pants and says a word to one of his companions and walk. over to you. I was told I would be saying hello to you this morning. What is it I can help you with?

You're the one that were meant to, oh, hey, what the hell happened to you? Last time we saw you, we were in a bell yard, and then you took some of the loot and scoot it off. Yeah, a little bit of this, little bit of that. You know how it is. Do we like this guy or hate this guy? I say to the others. I forget, like right out loud. It's complicated. Oh, come now. I'm not talking to you, Zokin. Do we like him or hate him? Is Zulkin looking well put together? Yeah, you said he's more well-fed. Yeah, he's, I mean, last time you saw him,

he had sort of fell out with the Zantarum. He, like, floated down river, badly injured for a while. It seems like he's got himself a job and some more connections now. So at least he's doing all right. I think we like you for now. So, hi, buddy. Nice to see you. Glad you're doing well.

He throws an arm over your shoulder. Red! My friend, he lowered. his voice in a conspiratorial manner, so I hear you're looking for some information. Yeah, I guess you are part of the things that have the information, that group of people, the Zantarum. He puts his hand on your chest. I manage to find information just about anywhere I go. Listen, I do have the information that you need about that thing, but I need your help first

with something. Typical Zolkin. Of course, there's always a trade-off, isn't there? Let me guess. Yeah, I don't know. Continue. Well, it's not too far off from last time, shall we say. I need you to help me investigate something interesting.

A little downriver from here. There'll be gold in it for you, of course. And then I will share with you some juicy details. Is this another trick like last time? Did you trick us last time? There was no trick. You nearly tricked me out of my share. For which...

I think that was a gross misrepresentation of what happened. I am willing to forgive you, of course. My friends. Zulkin, let me ask you this. If we do this, are you going to ask for another share or whatever goal do we come across? Are you going to come up with some sort of... That I think it's only fair.

One fifth of whatever. How do we know you know what you say you know? You know, Jack, and I turn in a hush tone speak to the others. I say, as much as Zokin is a bit of a mischievous fellow, he hasn't steered us wrong. He did split that loot in Beliard. He didn't, you know, try to stab us in the back. And I feel like at this point he's earned at least enough of our allegiance that we could trust him. They might be able to help us with the coin.

I mean, we got to follow that lead. I really need to know what's happening with this coin. All right, Zulkin. You said that you know about this. you need us to help you first, we're at least listen to what you've got to propose. He holds out his hand to shake with each of you. Your hands look dirty, but I shake them anyway.

Doran looks at his own hand, sees how dirty it is, and offers it to shake Zorkins. After he shakes each of your hands, he lowers his voice. I found a map that was on someone's belongings. And I want to investigate the location therein. I feel like it's going to be one of those places, you know? Like the Hambrat House.

Somewhere where we can find, hmm, coin. Can I see the man? Not yet. We'll be, well, we'll get on a ship, won't we? And he strides forward confidently. Well, hold on. Where is it? Is it, which direction at least?

Down river, Red. Down river. Down river. All right. Red follows. And before long, the five of you are on a barge. Zulkin has bartered his way and yours onto this riverboat, and he seems quite familiar with the skipper of this barge.

It's fairly large. It's a large barge. It's got lots of crates on the top deck of it and a small, like, below cabin area. It's a road by a crew of burly-looking humans and half-elves, male and female. And it's not long before you depart from the shores of Yarder. I wonder if Yarder sells and exports crates,

because I see a lot of those everywhere. So many crates. More crates here. Oh, this crate is filled with crates. Get your crates of crates. And the smaller crates have smaller crates in them. Yarder's crates and palettes. You're fresh crates here.

Everland, but instead of geese, it's crates. We've got to get Yarder and Everland together so we can crate some of these geese. Nice to meet you, Skipper. What's your name? The name's Samara Yardier at your service. Nice to meet you. Um, say, you don't know whereabouts we're going, do you? Downriver to Waterdeep. To Water Deep. Oh, we're going to Water Deep. That's right.

That's where that boat's going. Who knows if we're getting off earlier, right? What do you, Elfey's Sea, Jack? You think we're going into trouble? How do you read on this situation? Well, I'm going to guess at some point we're planning to get off the barge before it reaches its destination, huh? Well, I guess you're right. We'll have to get off at some point. The barge travels at a leisurely pace through the frosty plains southward into the desert valley. The terrain grows rocky and hills spring up as you float along the churning current. It's a windy, cloudy day and jets of sunlight stream down through the bleak, greener. gray sky here and there along the way. Yeah, you've got a bunch of time on your hands. I mean,

you're going to be traveling for who knows how long, at least a little while. Hey, Zolkin, can I see that map now? We're on the boat. We're committed. All right, I'll let you see it as long as you don't do any funny business. He passes it over to you. Amazing. What's on the map? The map is a set of canyons with dotted line leading westward and then a tower. marked. So Jack is very historical and a cartographer. Can he tell anything about who made this map or where it might lead or what it might be going to or what? It's a pretty mundane map from your experience. The person who made it was not an expert cartographer by any means. The parchment that it's drawn on and the inks that were used to make it are lower quality. This isn't something that

was passed down from generation to generation. This is more a kind of map that could have been created with little care. You might have got duped here, Zolk, and nobody gave a shit when they made this map. Look at all this. It's amateur. Where'd you get it? If you'd seen the gentleman

that I relieved of this map, I'm sure you would have a different opinion, Jack. This map may not look like much, but I assure you we are headed somewhere important. Or at least I'm hope, honestly. You're here for information. I vow to give it to you once we explore this location. What is it to you? It's a win-win. Red's going to go over to a corner of the barge and just lean up against

the wall. Red is going to reach into the bag of holding and he's going to pull out that book of dragons that he took back from Jack. Okay. And leaf through it a little bit and sort of skim. Now that there has been a bigger note on dragons and with the added information that Cradleoth has shared with me about Clarion. I want to see if there's anything that jumps out. We've now interacted with two dragons, and Harshnag has mentioned a red dragon as well, I believe. Harshnag mentioned the white dragon whose skull he removed.

Sorry, the white dragon, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he didn't really talk too much about it. He just said this was like an old enemy of mine. Yeah, no, I'm just going to re-familiarize myself with my foe. After meeting Harshnag, I also learned more about giants. And I'm kind of getting nervous that we might have to fight a dragon. want to learn more about dragons too.

Cool. I think this is a really great time to do a little bit of storytelling about dragons based on the book. Red and Jack have both become familiar with the contents of this book. So I'm sure Jack will want to jump in and interject at points with other things that he remembers. But I think it would be cool to spend this time with, you know, Red reading from the book, Jack making his comments, sort of educating Doran and Kralath about.

about it. Cool. Oh, nice. Hey, guys, I'm looking at this book that Chaz gave us, and I'm just thinking, you know, there's some really interesting stuff. He talks about them being the physical embodiment of gods, and he talks a little bit about sea serpents and how they belong to the same order as dragon kind. Like, they're part of the same race, almost.

He makes a few racist assumptions about dragon-born people as well, and says there's a hypothetical rainbow dragon that has all these chromatic and. metallic varieties and that they can control life and death. But he does say that the idea of mastering or owning a dragon is basically the epitome of luck and fortune, so that should be well past our likelihood of doing. Sort of like Chazloth himself, eh? No kidding. Luck and fortune.

I don't know about that. All of his methods are problematic. I mean, he steals a baby dragon. He performs all these experiments about what kinds of things that, dragons can eat and measures the appetites of them and document, like, I appreciate he at least wrote it down in some sort of sense, but, you know, there's a little bit of, I think the only thing of value in that book is the, is the little bit where he at least sort of translates some uncommon draconic phrases into, into language. I think that bit, you know, the, the dragon poetry

was neat. I don't think, I don't think, I don't think Chasloth really got it when he tried to emulate the form to write a dragon song, but there, you know, there's something there that's kind of interesting. Red, did you see the parts? Like, those had to be lies where he talked about how he met all those dragons. Like some of that, okay, maybe he did, you know, walk up to that cave, but I don't believe half of what he wrote there. Yeah, no, I think it's a bit of bullshit. And not to lay in on you, but some of these language translations aren't great. I actually speak traconic, and he got this one wrong. And Red, like, pulls out a pen and, like, scribbles underneath it what it should be directly on the book.

Just like right in his book. Yeah. Well, because Red, again, speaks draconic. Yeah, no, I agree. He conjugated that bit entirely wrong. It changes the whole meaning of the sentence. Yeah, so you guys actually, you can tell, like, some of these translations are actually kind of genius.

And then some of the more mundane ones, totally wrong. So he's, like, very insightful and full of shit at the same time. probably a combination of a misread on his part, but then also just overreaching. You learn also about a couple of specific dragons in the realm. I could give you a whole list. It's not going to be terribly interesting to the audience, but I will say that there are a couple of notable dragons that you have learned a little bit more about by going through the pages of this book.

And as you're chugging along on this river, heading now through some canyons, you learn about a dragon called Orotheter, this white dragon that lives in the sea of moving ice, and you hear about his legendary cruelty, that there are twin blue dragons living out in the desert, one named Cheseran and one named Annexaster. Chasloth claims to have met both of these siblings and has called them rude. The weirdest part about all this, Jack, I don't know if it jumped down to you as well, but he said there's potential for dragons within all of us, and then especially for himself.

Did that make any sense to you? I mean, the closest I can sort of bring that together, dragons are inherently magical creatures. The weave of magic is everywhere in the world. I think that's sort of how some creatures, and beings can just be magical, can suddenly call Stevens out of the woodwork, anything like that. So in that sense, you know, where there's clearly a connection between dragons and magic and magic and everything else, you know, maybe there's a potential there. Certainly, there's

some sorcerous bloodlines and things that are rightful of more direct draconic power. But I'm confused. How could we be dragons? Is there a potential for Chasloth turn it into a dragon? Really? Anybody really? I don't know. He might be speaking metaphorically like we have potential to control dragons and not necessarily be dragons.

He's a bit of a weirdo. A bit? Kralath is fiddling with the ring that the seer gave him. You know, one thing that is comforting is that he had reportedly so many interactions with dragons and lived to tell the tale. It means that

But maybe we would have a chance as well. A chance for... If we have to. And Red gives him like a knowing look. Like, yeah, if we have to, I agree, bud. You guys didn't talk about Clarion or any of that bit yet. No, we haven't told you. Only Kralov.

Is there a chance Jack could be picking up on you guys trying to unspokenly say some... You definitely see Krayloff, you know, paying a lot more attention to the idea of a dragon than... Yeah, is... You would have seen before. I mean, not that dragons have come up a whole lot. Is there something that brought them back to mind? I know, Red, you sort of read the book before. Is there a reason you guys wanted to revisit it?

I sort of espoused to Harshag that I could see a dragon being behind all of this. It's something that Valharo said. He mentioned that he could see dragons being behind this. And then I mentioned it a Harshnag and he sort of confirmed. And it just frankly got dragons on my brain, this long, distant war between giants and dragons. and then suddenly the giants are being reordined? I mean, who stands to gain the most than the dragons? And ultimately, when there's a problem,

I always look to the person who's going to gain. Is that what brought him to your mind, Kralith? Um, well, uh, not exactly, but I'll tell you about that later, Jack. I'm, uh, okay. I'm just, uh, well, just let me know if you guys discover anything else in that book. I'm really curious. There is more information about several individuals. dragons. The names

Clarion, Klauguliamatar, cryovane, Klaus. One thing that does interest me, Kralov stops fidgeting with the ring. How was it that Shazloth was able to steal that

egg from Clarion? That's pretty incredible, wouldn't you say? That's a feat that no normal person would be able to accomplish on their own, I imagine. I mean, Doren has spoken of Clarion, and how devastating he was, right? Just the thought makes me shudder.

He details it here, but I think it's a lot of bullshit, frankly. This chapter seems like it's filled with lies. It's a lot of bravado about how brave he was and how awesome he looked to doing it. It's not all that useful. It's always been one of those things where sometimes I definitely have fantasized about going to Clarion and mentioning, hey, do you know where Chasloff took your kid? here's where you can find him. It's been a...

But then I think about, you know, back in Nightstone, which is, I guess, now, dawn glow. And sometimes you don't always understand all the knock-on effects of telling people about, about, you know, other things. I'm still kind of... Well, Halel, what are you talking about the knock-on effects of telling people other things?

The... You know, the church in Waterdeep, the church of Lithander, got really weird on me. And I definitely in a letter to Carina, the old high Don Knight mentioned, you know, some of the weird Asmodius cult stuff that we found going on there. And I really thought it was going to turn out different. Hold on, that Tiefling family, though I remember talking about them.

You said that they were devil worshippers or something. They literally were, yep. You sent a letter about them. did. What did the letter say? That they existed. And... Well, who just said the letter, too? Why? It definitely was very concerning at the time to see, you know, my friend's town have these people who so clearly and openly worshipped the Lord of Lies and this big evil force. It seemed, and especially when the, you know, the priest of Lithander himself was also, you know, believing a lot of things that just felt

very different from my experience. So I mentioned it to, to my friend Karina, the high dawn night at the spires of the morning that, you know, it might be worth sending some people of the faith to try and keep this town that had been this work of my friend alive. But, is like eavesdropping. He's got a fishing rod in the river and he's just trawling for fish. And he's like, so what you're saying, Jack, is that you did what the Zentarm couldn't do. You sent people to go and out the villagers of Nightstone. Is that right? That was not the intent. But it may have been what ended up happening. And so, but, but I, but I mean, to the point, I was, you know, had been thinking, well, it seemed pretty messed up

for Chasloth to steal this dragon egg from its parent and try and raise this dragon. But, you know, you hear some of the stories about Clarion after that and how awful they've been to Doran's people, you know, maybe that dragon's living a better life. And Chasloth has taken a risk to, I don't know, shade to gray. Are you comparing yourself to Chazloth? and stealing the egg. He's saying that maybe the residents of Donglo are better off now. Jack. I don't know.

You tattled. You ratted somebody out. Now you feel bad about it. Especially people who were nice to us. And I remember talking to you in those woods outside those caves. And we butted heads at the time. But I didn't think something like this would happen from it. That's...

You made a call, Jack. You made a call. Well, he made a call on his own. How do you feel about it? I feel pretty betrayed by people I trusted. You don't feel guilty? Yes, I feel guilty. Well, blaming the people who betrayed you in not taking account, Jack, I feel like this is a reoccurring theme.

Hey, well, hold on, Red. He didn't know that they were going to do that. Of course he didn't, but there's a lot of things that Jack does that he doesn't realize the implications of. That, the... Well, come on, Kralath, you know that... I think there's a lot of things that a lot of us do that we don't realize the implications of because we can't. know what's going to happen when we act, but we have to act. Did he have to act there, though?

And with the imp. There's no way that he could have known, so I think you should ease up. Hey, we've all done things. I don't know about you guys, but, you know, dragons, they scare the hell out of me. And, uh, this whole, this whole mission, we're here. Oh, let's go. Zulkin catches a fish. It's a big one.

Oh, it's a big one! Oh, that's going to be great on the grill. It gets bigger the more he tells people about it. Anyway, yeah, and Red puts the book away. I guess let's just focus on the task at hand. The riverboats' skipper lights oil lanterns along the prow and stern, pressing back against the closeness of the night. You spend a whole day on this ship and a whole night travels. Obviously, the boat is still traveling downstream.

dream. And as you play cards on the deck of this ship, the four of you and Zulkin, his tongue loosens a little bit, and he starts to tell you about some of the good gossip that he knows. I tell you, I don't even really miss working for the Zentorum that much anymore. At first, you know, it feels good to be part of a company of people. Doesn't even matter who they are or what they do. But Zantaram operatives downstream, actually kind of where we're headed. They're complaining of supply

problems recently. That's part of why I'm placed in yarders to figure out what's going on. Mostly for a personal interest, but there may be a couple of people who are paying me a coin or two for my information.

Are you splitting that coin with us too? Don't be silly red. That's coin that I come to. fair and square. Hmm. So, wait, you're with the Zantorum again? No, I'm learning about them for an interested party, shall I say. Oh, I see. I see. Yes.

Doring kind of turns to red, and he's like, Would you believe I'm Zorkin was doing some good in this world? No, blows my mind. He puts another gold piece on the pile in the middle of the table and raises his eyebrows at you. Surely, Doren, you don't think that I'm only capable of evil. acts. Evil? No. Selfish? Yes. Yeah, you're what we call chaotic neutral. And I can get behind that.

Let's not bring alignment into this, old friend. Look, we're not saying you're a bad guy, Zokin. But you can't deny that when you first wrote into Nightstone, you were under very different circumstances. Oh, I was serving specific orders. And instead, now you're getting information for them? Just don't betray us, all right? I think that's what we're getting at. Of course. Yarder, though, what did you think about it?

Such a cool town. Oh, the coolest. We got matching tattoos. Yeah, look. You got to be careful with those marks in Yarder. What do you mean? Well, you don't want to seem like you're part of an organization. Oh, what kind of organization would have a tattoo? Well, it's well known among some circles that Yarder's got its own criminal guild.

And if you're seen to have some kind of belonging or organization, well, then you might become a target. What's the Criminal Guild's sigil? I don't know. They're very secretive. I know that they're called the hand. He waggles his eyebrows at the four of you, an all-female Thieves Guild. Oh, my guess is their sigil is a hand. Now that you say that. What about you, Zulkin? Does the Zantanar? have any tattoos of any kind?

Well. All brands. The symbol of a snake. Do you have one? I don't. Draw it out for me, will you? I just pull it a random piece of paper and get a sketch. Yeah.

He draws it. It's like a little coiled serpent image. Cool. I think it's got wings. It's a flying snake. I mean, especially if this information needs to go to the Centaurum. Might be beneficial. I don't know.

What are you going to do with that fish? You want me to do something, something with that? I got some spices I could throw on that. I got some paprika, actually, that I could throw. Is it paprika or paprika? That's a good question, Doran. I'll tell you all about it in the kitchen. Early the next morning, a vast bridge appears on your southern horizon.

As you approach, the span of the bridge tickles your memory, and you recognize the structure as the sight of your combat with the fire giant. And Torreled Flame Tongue's last stand many centuries of this. go. Wow. You know, it certainly brings a smile to my face, having a different perspective. Remember being up there? I do. Oh, hey, Stephen. And then the dolphin pops up in the water. Is there any fire giant corpse down there that has anything on it? As you pass under the bridge, the clear waters below you belie the glint of metal armor. Your barge sails casually over the rotting corpse of a submerged giant. Its skeleton picked clean in places by river creatures,

bloated, ragged flesh trapped under plate mail streaming along with the current. Classic. Classic. I think Red looks over to Jack. Yeah, I think Jack's definitely been spending a lot of time staring off the back of the barge,

just watching the wake and the ripples sort of go out from the boat and bounce off the shore and have the waves interact with the rest of the rocks and water. and he kind of looks down a little bit ashamed and walks over to Jack and sits down next to him and in a very Jack way sort of starts off topic and goes what is quite lovely here yeah yeah it's really interesting to see it splash up on those rocks and freeze and thaw and freeze and look I'm sorry about yesterday I'm just going to come out and say it I lost my

temper and that wasn't fair or nice. And you and I are, well, we're more than friends with brothers. And we need to have each other's back no matter what, because we're going to get into a lot of problems as we go on this adventure. And I know what you did, you did for a good reason. And I know you're going to continue to try to do things for good reason and you're going to try to help this party in any way you can. And I'm sorry I didn't believe that yesterday. It's been an interesting eye-opening experience when it comes to trust, I think. Really thought Churchill withander was full of good people who did good things. Thought that my whole life.

And, yeah, don't know what they did to Nightstone. Not sure that I want to know. certainly can't imagine it's the legacy my friend was hoping to leave before she got murdered there by giants and sucks I can't imagine and I know that all of us have complicated pasts and we have a lot to atone for in certain respects and I hope that you know that no matter what happened I know that we can always come back from mistakes we've made, if you know what I mean. I don't know that it was a mistake, though. This is the part that it shouldn't have been a mistake.

I should have been able to trust good people to do good things. That's the part that hurts, right? It's not, it's that I was so wrong about the nature of the world in some ways. But then, Jack, couldn't it also have been wrong that you saw these people as problems to report? Look, I'm with you. You should have been able to say something and they should have been fine, but couldn't part of this be the revelation that even though these people believed in something you didn't quite understand, especially after dealing with that imp and the way that you saw yourself being a part of it,

maybe it was also wrong to involve them in the first place. They could have just gone on their lives. They weren't hurting anybody. that's all I was trying to say that month ago in the woods I'm really confused about your position on devil's red it's okay to worship them but I'm bad for having involved one but I should give stuff to them and like I don't understand how it would feel okay for in your in your somehow your friends beautiful village they set up

uh literal people who who love that imp and want that imp and it's bossed to be there and do things. You saw what that devil did to Toren's place? And that was a tiny imp. And these are like people who brazenly put the devil-god symbol on their doors and somehow Nightstone is destroyed now. Well, I guess I don't have anything else to say then. I guess we're at an impasse.

But I shouldn't have lost my temper at you is I guess all I'm trying to say. And I guess Red gets up in leaves. I picture Kraloff and Doran sitting on the front. We're dangling our feet over the edge. Yeah. And just having chit-chat. How do you think this mace was made? How would you do that?

How would you make this? Is it made good? Doran goes into a long conversation about how tools are made and how this particular piece that you have, which I think is the magic. Yeah, a mace of deception. It is a magical mace. And how it's like got, you know, it's actually completely differently built.

Being a magical item, there's the physical piece, and then there's something done to it, which I can't explain. If we ever get to a forge, I'd love to watch you work. And if you ever, have you made magic items before? No, I've never, I've never made a magic item. In fact, meeting you and Jack are really the most magical people I've ever known in my life. life. It's a pretty invigorating experience. I have to be honest, I mean, Hey, well, maybe you and Jack could put your heads together. I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't really be able to help with. I like the way, I like the way you think. Actually, like that.

Maybe we should try to forge something magical. Yeah, I'll keep you fed. Yeah. That'll be my contribution. I like you. And I think at this point, Red sits down next to them too and joins them on the front of the boat and just like, magic items? Maybe you can make some magic arrows. The heads would be pretty small. What kind of magic arrows? Like ones that we, you shoot them, it cracks lightning through the air. Maybe one that makes a steak appear. Ooh, yeah, I like that, magic arrow. Imagine that, we're getting ready for dinner,

and I'm just like, steak arrow, and I shoot it, and the steak's there in the pan? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you combine it with create food and water. I got that spell. I'll do a butter arrow. Dura retrieves your mace, and he kind of shakes it and knocks on it. He's like, I wonder if I need to leave space for the magic. Does there need to be someplace to put it?

It's like a hollow bunny. It hands it back to you. Jack comes and sits down at the front of the boat sort of on the other side from Red. So we're having steaks for dinner? Tuna steak. Steak, yeah. No, it's such a steak.

Oh, he tries so hard. In the afternoon, you enter a system of canyons, prematurely darkening the sky. The rush of the current echoes through the shadows of the tall winding sandstone, bouncing back at you like a hundred streams. And Zolkin speaks a word to the riverboats skipper and the barge makes for the shore dropping anchor.

All right, gentlemen, this is our stop. Don't get your feet wet. Step lightly. Red jumps over dexterously. Stepping lightly is not my forte. You just fall in the water. Steps right off the boat in the water. Jack, you recognize this kind of.

outlet, this dry riverbed as the beginning of the map that Zolkan had showed you. And from this vantage now, you recognize, ah, we are, we're at the end of the journey. I'm going to look around with my passive perception of 20. I mean, it's just the opening of a river that would lead into this larger canyon, the walls of which are about 80 feet tall at the top from the water level, I guess. Are we climbing up there or we're going somewhere along the bank? Don't. Don't be ridiculous. Krayloff. Come now. Oh, I don't know where you're leading us.

Let's see that map. He opens up the map and he like traces his finger along this dry riverbed up through to where there's like a little drawing of the ruins of a tower. Yeah, it's like a very simple map. Like here's the river, here's the bridge and there's ruins. It's like a kid's restaurant treasure map. Yeah. And past the burgers in front. go around the ice cream sunday.

Napkin map. Yeah, yeah. Zolkin's like, the map here shows our destination, just a short hike in this direction. We'll keep our eyes peeled for some ruins, clean house, and be back on a barge up river before night falls.

And then I'll tell you everything you want to know about your golden goose. Sound like a plan? I thought it was a wooden goose. Goldwood. It's a wooden goose coin. Is it painted gold? Yep.

Lead the way, Zulkin. I'll take a 20-foot lead just to be a little stealthy. Cool, cool. The sandy floor of the dry riverbed crunches under your feet as you traverse the canyon heading west,

and behind you, the barge departs and leaves you alone. Small banks of snow and dry leafless black shrubs cling to the canyon walls and icicles hang in clusters here and there on cliffside outcroppings.

I'd probably be going a little stealthy if I have the option. Yeah, you can roll for stealth. Happily. 14. Okay, red is stealthing up ahead doing a little scouting. And we have Zulkin, Jack, Kraloth, and Doran sort of bringing up the rear. Doran in the rear. Yep. The raw sound of a creature in distress echoes through the cavernous landscape. Perfect. And red crouches immediately. Crouchy, crouchy. Do I see anything? You don't see. You don't see anything. What we're looking at here is mostly dry riverbed in a canyon that's sparsely populated with dead trees or leafless trees. And the canyon is at two levels. So the first

tier of rock formation goes about 40 feet high. And then there's a second tier that's the very top of the cliff face that's 80 feet from the riverbed that you're standing on. So I'll just climb the nearest wall about 40 feet up, take a look over the top and then slide back down to see what I see and tell it the others. So red as you climb up to like the first tier essentially of this

canyon formation you see that there's just carved out from the rock like wind and erosion has created this like terraced feel to the landscape where you're one level above everyone else I suppose and

the ground underneath you is firm and sandy. But I don't see anything. You don't see the source of the noise. I head back down and I skulk over to the others. And in a hushed tone, I say, I scout it up there and I don't see anything.

It's a perfect place for an ambush, though, going through the valley. I can cast pass without trace. What is everyone thinking? What made that noise? Like, what kind of creature do you think? Can roll a nature check, anyone who's interested? I'd love to.

20. Probably goat or a sheep, Something like that. Sounds like a creature that's being very injured, yeah. Mald. Steven. It sounded more like prey than it did the creature doing the praying, if you know what I mean. And it's still happening now and then you hear like a bleat of pain.

That might mean whatever could be hunting is distracted. When Reds says that it could be an ambush, Kraloth glances back to Zulkin and just, I'm going to do an inside role just to see how he's acting. Good thinking. Sure. What a long way to take us to eight. He's nervous? Okay. I mean, smart, though.

Take us way off so we can't get anywhere. If you were going to ambush somebody, this would be the smart place to do. And then goat attack. Dyer goat. Wear goats. I don't think Solkyn's master plan here is to get us attacked. The other side of it is we do have a ton of magic items. We have a lot of gold.

We actually are a pretty valuable prize. But anyway. Say it louder. Here's my wallet. My wallet's so heavy. Can someone carry it? I'm going to cast pass without trace. Let's just keep going through the canyon and be.

Very careful. Everyone keep close. Pass without trace has been cast. Why doesn't everyone make a stealth role for me? That adds 10, correct? Bingo, bango. So Zolkin got a fucking 32. Nice.

Stealthiest asshole ever. Oh, I got a 29. 26. I got 18. 17, yeah. And he's like, Red, this is awesome. Shut up, Zulken. Okay, so the five of you stealthily make your way through,

this canyon pacing carefully along the floor of this dry riverbed and as you wind through the twists and turns of the valley you come to a corner peeking around red you see the source of this painful animal outcry underneath a withered dry tree you see the body of a mountain goat and the creature that lords over it tearing at its flesh. It seems to be some kind of huge mountain lion. Ooh. Can I roll nature on it? Yeah, please. Nine. Um, yeah. I mean, you'd have to get closer to learn more about it, but from this distance, it just looks like a big cat. Can I see what it's eating? Goat of some kind. Skimab! Yeah. Well, I want to make sure.

Okay, the gross part about it is that this creature is, like, eating it alive. So the goat is still making noises and its legs in its mouth and is, like, eating, like, it's torn off a leg. I walk back to the others. It looks like a large mountain lion. Oh. Well, that's not so bad. I mean. How big are we talking here?

And Red holds out his hands. Whoa. Big. Size of a horse? Yeah, it's like the size of a horse. It's a big lion. A warg? It's a horse-sized lion.

What do we want to do? I mean, obviously we could take it out. We'd have a hard time sneaking by it. Might be good to get the jump on it. Also, mountain lion meat is pretty hard to come by. Jack, can you see it? Yeah, I can sneak around the corner and get a look at it. And I go up with him just to keep the pass without trace.

Yeah, what are we looking at? Nature eat, know some things with the 21. The 21? Jack, it becomes clear to you after observing it for just a few. moments like this creature you're looking at it kind of from an inopportune angle um but this does not look like a mundane lion in what way in that it has wings oh dropping down from the sheer cliff face above you a monster the likes of which you've never seen pounces in ambush its body is that of a giant lion and covered in

stained shaggy fur and shot through with eight inch spines with powerful limbs and vicious black claws. Its leathery wings churn up storms of sand. A tail capped with a cluster of spikes waves

menacingly overhead held like a scorpion and most disturbingly the monster's face a human countenance twisted by psychopathic rage and hunger human golden eyes, a broad nose, and a wide mouth stretching across its jaw ringed in wet, black lips and parted, revealing rows and rows of pointed ivory teeth.

And from it, a cruel, terrible voice. There me so many of them. So much fresh. And he launches himself at you. Everyone roll for initiative. Oh boy, talk about Manta hardcore! Thank you once again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Christopher Ryan Evans, Mitchell Cadwell, Paran Caristee, Mary Karniski, Jessica Orrett, Colin Burkhart, Daniel, Doug, Katie Orrett, and Merlin. See you soon, if we survive.

You know, Thank you. Thank you.