High Rollers DnD - The Lavender Gardens (Part 1) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #66

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

The gang live up to the "High Rollers" name as they get *very* distracted by some mini games in the Lavender Gardens! _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dispeldice.com/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://geekyclean.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.highrollersdnd.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/HighRollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Picture this. You're halfway through a DIY car fix, tools scattered everywhere, and boom, you realize you're missing a part. It's okay, because you know whatever it is, it's on eBay. They've got everything. Brakes, headlights, cold air intakes, whatever you need. And it's guaranteed to fit, which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing. Hey folks, Mark here and I wanted to do a little podcast shoutout for anyone looking

for more funny D&D adventures. I've been listening to Tales from the Stinky Dragon recently and wanted to recommend it. It's a show full of humour and heart with five amazing writers, comedians and voice actors like Gus Sorola from Red vs Blue and Barbara Dunkelman from RWBY, and it's very accessible for folks even if they aren't D&D experts. I love their immersive sound design and original score, which makes the podcast feel very epic and cinematic. In fact, you might have actually seen some of their experts. I love their immersive sound design and original score, which makes the podcast feel very epic and cinematic. In fact, you might have actually seen some of their animations and puppet videos on social media already. That's right, puppet videos. I think there's a lot of similar vibes between High Rollers and Tales from the Stinky Dragon with goofy

hijinks, emotional moments, chaos gremlin roleplay, and all the stuff I know you already love. So why not check out Tales from the Stinky Dragon anywhere you listen to podcasts, or on youtube.com forward slash at Stinky Dragon Pod. Cheers! Thanks everybody! Welcome back to Althea the Dragon Empire. Our heroes have travelled to the seaside town of Wavemeat in the Bronze Dragon province of the Suncrest Isles. After rescuing the titling warlock broker Caliphris from trouble and making a new bard friend,

Mateo, the party have set out to explore the town a little whilst they wait for Gruff's next knight mentor to appear. They visited a trader to make some gold, where Xantheist managed to discover a forgotten but rather unreliable immovable rod and bought it for a bargain price before making their way to the Amethyst Gardens, a popular gaming hall with different games of chance, strategy and other unusual options. No, Amethyst Gardens. You said Lavender Gardens. Amethyst Gardens? Yeah. I forgot Lavender Gardens. It's Lavender, bro.

I forgot, dude. Yeah, yeah gardens? Yeah. I forgot lavender gardens. Lavender bro. My dude. Yeah, yeah. As someone who watched recently, yeah. Oh my God, where are we? I've been in my notes for weeks. This is all just made up. Wait, Amethyst gardens came from, it is lavender gardens.

Yeah, I mean do you like Amethyst? Why is it my brain? Listen, this happens a lot. Color association. Color association. Same color, yeah. Where, where did, why? But now we know that if we team up, we can change the world. The color of some color here. What? Where did? But now we know that if we team up, we can change the world.

We're not rich. We're so rich. We're massively rich. How did I mean? But, uh-uh, you broke him. Uh-uh, he's broken. I'm sorry. Listen, this happens a lot.

I'm getting old as fuck, and my brain doesn't work. It only took nine years. Restaurant. Restaurant. Yeah. I also, I'm actually gonna take fuck and my brain doesn't work. It only took nine years. Restaurant. Restaurant. Yeah. I also, I'm actually gonna take this as a brief opportunity. The Minotaur Bro that I introduced, who was a character created lovingly by a player

in a D&D, in a castle game of mine, I've been saying the name wrong. Oh, okay, so. It's Branark, not Brannock. It's Brannark. Brannark. That's not too bad. That's not too bad.

Yeah, I misspelt it and I've been getting it wrong. So apologies, it's Brannark. Brannark. That's not too bad. Yeah, I misspelt it, and I have been getting it. So apologies, it's Branark. Branark Steelhorn. Listen, even us professionals, we're fucking idiots. So anyway, at the Lavender Gardens, a popular gaming hall, shut up. Carry on. You updating that?

I literally had to just update my notes. All right, okay. A popular gaming hall with different games of chance, strategy, and other more unusual options. Xanthias, Rowan had indulged in these sort of bizarre clockwork machines that seemed to involve matching symbols, which bore a very familiar design

to the clever toad machine. You know? Yeah, the very weird, very ugly looking angry bird man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty weird. Roman indulged in those, whilst Xanthius was drawn to a game called Nine Mages, a strategic game played upstairs.

More for recreation than as a gambling sort of endeavor. It is more of a sort of enjoyable recreational game. I totally forgot about that. We do not have to actually play it. I can't. I was wondering. I've been playing it all week. Well, you're not, Graff's not there.

I'm not there. You're not there. I should also, the other thing that you would have seen walking around the Lavender Gardens, because there's lots of different gaming rooms and stuff that you saw. There are some more traditional gambling rooms that seem to be playing some sort of card game

called Crown and Sword, but also, like, as just a little funny aside, you do see that one section of part of the Lavender Gardens is dedicated to tables of miniature battlefields and people moving little miniatures around simulated battles and rolling dice and things like that. That would absolutely be bronze dragons would fucking love Warhammer.

So I'm making it canonical. Is it called Warhammer? It is not, it would be called something else. Battle Spanner. Battle Spanner. What? Why? Warhammer Battle Spanner I'm assuming Battle Spanner. Battle Spanner. What the fuck? Why? Warhammer, Battle Spanner, I'm assuming.

Spanner? It's all there. Conflict screwdriver. I know I like it. Skirmish Alan wrench. Yeah. Skirmish Alan key. No, Spanner.

But of course then there's the future version in Skirmish Alananki 20,000. WD-40. Yeah, I was going to say WD-40. But no, it would probably have a simple name, sort of like Conquest or something like that, and it's like a kind of historical... It's more like, you know, you see those guys that do like the famous battles and they do Luminiches, you know, famous battles and they do laminatures,

you know, things like that. It's much more like that. More historical. They're not up to like the Battle of Ashen's Rest yet. No, no, no, but the Battle of the Ash Hills. Maybe you see one person over there and there's a sort of recreation of the Ash Hills as you remember them.

There's two dragons fighting against each other kind of thing. Thousand point armies. Galvasar can only move 30 feet per turn and has a six inch fire break. Well, Galvasar wasn't part of that battle, remember. No, you're right. Why is Galvasar your army?

By Duke Ignarius comes equipped with his plus two magic armor. I'm just gonna get some of the four up saving throw. Make my actual do-payne. Yes, there's a lot of that. No-net guy here. There's a lot of that. Taryn. Taryn.

Taryn Darkblade. There's something here. Oh, yeah. First of all, Taryn doesn't sound like that. Taryn sounds like this. Yeah, that's really cool. That's really cool. Taryn Darkblade.

I will show you. Too much neck. We wouldn't know if he was here. Yeah. That's the one. Too much neck. I love him. He's not here. I've hired him. I will tell you. We wouldn't know if he was here. Yeah. That's the one, too much snack. I love him. He's not here. I've hired him.

But we find ourselves in one of these art pill in gaming halls. It's all a height of luxury. There are always servers with little snacks, complimentary drinks. You will find that sort of, there is only one type of drink which is like a kind of like fruit wine

which is complimentary. If you want anything special, you do have to go and pay for it and things like that. If you want a larger meal, you have to go and pay for it. It's kind of like their way of enticing you in and offering you a little bit. And it's only a small glass, so it's enough to be like,

oh yeah, I'd want another drink and then you go and buy one kind of thing. Draped in purple, lavender fabrics, amethyst chandeliers and things like that. All decorated in purples and golds, bronze as well, that are featured prominently. There are large open windows with sort of latticework, which allows the sea breeze to come in,

but it is also being semi-controlled by these thick sheets of fabric, which help stop it from fully blowing through and knocking things off tables and stuff like that. In the heaven. Mm. Yeah, I'm gonna die here, I think. The sounds and the smells of the sea

kind of wafting in as well with it. But yes, Xantheus, you sit down. You sort of, many of these like, chessboard-like tables are set out for people to play against each other. And I believe you were playing against a sort of older, mature human lady. So we take turns placing these little things on the board

and then... Well, first I'm gonna ask you an OC question. Are we actually going to play a game of Nightmare? I kinda wanna see it, cause I've never seen one. You've got it right there. We've got it right here. Yes, however. For Pockets, so this is what I'm gonna ask you an OC question. Are we actually going to play a game of Nightmare? I kinda wanna see it, cause I've never seen one. You've got it right there. We've got it right here. Yes, however. For podcast, so this is what I was gonna think.

For the purposes of this, whilst Xantheus and this NPC play the game, I would like the other characters present to commentate on what is happening to keep it at least remotely interesting for the podcast. Is it okay that I brought my friends with me just to watch and sort of, yeah? So to see that being a problem, that'd be nice.

Okay, so we're actually gonna do this for real on stream? Yes. Okay, okay. God, Zephia, crush them with your might! Crush them with your wit! This is Ophelia, she's very lovely. Oh yes, hello! Hello!

Hello, it's not really a sort of crushing game, I suppose. It's sort of, I suppose there is a strategic element. So what was the winnings again for this, if I was to try and- Oh, well I believe you win the fortune tokens, I believe. I was running out of it. I was running out, I was running out. Oh, I'm ready, because I've just run out.

You've just run out? I've just used all of the slots. You spent them all on the machines over there. Yeah. Wow, that was quick. You didn't get any- So I'm kind of hovering, just in case. Well, you win the fortune points from the machines.

You don't spend them back on. These are like ticket, you know, in price. I think you exchange them like prices and stuff. You paid for them. If you didn't write them down, that's on you. You left them in the machines and someone just walked over and took them off. I think you got like one or two tokens.

I don't think you got two. No, because his first win, he got, not a jackpot, he got a two of a kind or something like that. So you won like eight or something, I think. But he didn't write them down, so he doesn't have them. I've lost them. Yeah, he left them in her chains. And will a lesson be learned?

No. No. Oh, there's someone standing over there that looks almost identical to Gruff and speaks just like them and probably is assiduously and is willing to join the commentation of this. Okay, nope. I want Kim to sit there in silence.

This is gonna be hard, because I've been playing this all week, just because I got addicted to it after watching this. And that's the joy of it. I want everyone on the stream to watch Kim like, no! I don't know anything. Okay, well. Well, for everyone that's not,

it remembers a lot of episodes, it's very much like Nine Man's Morris. It is. So we begin by placing nine tokens on the game board. I can do that. That's easy. We will alternate, because I've played before, you will have the advantage. You will play as Purple, and Purple gets to place first. If we form three tokens in a straight line,

you can then remove one of your opponent's tokens. Once we have placed all of our tokens, we then alternate moving them one space at a time. If you get down to only three tokens remaining, you may place them anywhere on the board. You don't have to follow the grid, you can simply jump them around where they need to be. But as soon as you have either two tokens left

or you cannot move, you lose, is the rules for the game. Noted. This is exactly up now. So, shall we play? Yes. Very well, well you will place first. Throw me all these purple tokens please, Monsieur. Madam.

Yep. Sorry, I'm flustered, learning a new game scares me. I did also fix the map for those of you who pointed out that there was a line missing, I don't know why. I printed it directly from Wikipedia, and the printer just went, I'm not gonna fix the map for those of you who pointed out that there was a line missing. I don't know why. I printed it directly from Wikipedia and the printer just went, I'm not going to print that line. It just ignored it completely. I twitched a little bit when I saw that board

on the stream last week. Okay, well I placed my first token. Oh, I see, yes, you have placed. Nice token in the bottom right corner, but not all the way. Well, now here's the strategy. Should I take the center or control the outside? Taking the center sounds like a risky move.

Going close to the opposite corner. Very interesting. Symmetrical approach. Oh right, now you're top right. So there's one top right and bottom right for you, Xanthias. Oh, but they have to. You see, I'm forced to play defensively, unfortunately, going second.

I don't understand what's happening. A real shame. You're doing all the corners, it seems. All the corners right now, hoping to- And they're getting all the gaps in between. Hoping to stop them from getting a- This seems to be defentialist. Yes, it does.

I don't understand. This is all too much. Oh, I see, I see. You're in the bottom, bottom corner now. What does that mean? I think- So you have a diagonal, but they're not joined. I think I've made a mistake.

Wait, does diagonal line count as a three? No. They have to join up, don't they? It's the connected lines. I am on a defensive now. Yeah. Oh, I see. Oh! You're purple, right.

You're Santa now. I see. Lavender and amethyst. That's all I know. So you've got to connect two or three up? Three up. Well, we do, this is just the placement phase. Obviously, if one can get a line, that is very good, but now it's important to note that a corner shape

does not count as a line, unfortunately. It must be a straight line. Did you know that? I did know that. You have to block there and move there, right in the middle. You've almost got the whole middle square filled up. Hmm. I wish Gruff were here to see this.

I bet Gruff would be really good at this. I have two pieces remaining to place. We both have two remaining. Interesting. Just watching Kim. Is there another colour? Kim didn't approve of that move. You've gone in the opposite corner. Big mistake.

Big mistake. You've blocked their line, well done. You've been rumbled. No, it's okay. No, that's okay. He's gonna get it. Our pieces have been placed. Now our pieces have been placed,

so starting with yourself, we may move one space at a time. One space at a time. Yes. Sorry, podcast listeners, this is really hard to describe to you. What I'm going to do is I'm going to quickly- You can take stills from the episode.

I will take a picture of the current state of the board, and this is turn one of nine majors. Nine majors. Nine majors. And you will see- No, we'll do it after several moves. We'll have to do it. Yeah, do it around.

Yeah, the still from the thing. Huh? I just took a picture, it's dead. Huh? I just took a picture. It's fine. These will be available on the Patreon. You can watch a play-by-play of Tom versus Mark. No, just do a gif. Just cut out the corner thing.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And make an animated gif. They'll be free to view on Patreon. Podcast description, look at it there. Wow, and while you're there, why not join us as a supporter? Play the game! Kim is losing her fucking mind. It's hilarious, because I'm obviously playing the NPC,

I'm kind of like, half-focusing on what everyone else is doing. Just quickly, can we roll fate? Oh, yeah, I guess. I wanted to play Nightmare to Morris. All right, what we got? What's the name of this universe? What's it called on this universe? Nine Mages. Nine Mages, yeah.

I wasn't very creative. Right, what do we get fate wise? One. One, that's a dice for me. Three. That's a dice for me. It is. Four. That's a dice for you. We had a comment, five. That's a dice for you.

Three. That's a dice for me. We had a comment that said it's a die for you. Three. What's the card? That's a dice for me. We had a comment that said it's a die for you. No. Ha ha ha. Okay. It's a dice for me. Now he's gonna do it even harder. Point two.

You slid the bottom left corner, Amethyst, to the bottom middle. Yes. Joining up with your bottom right one. On the outer square. On the outermost square. Nice job there, Zan. Thank you.

Oh, yeah. But they moved this inner... No, that's okay. They have formed a line, however, if I make a three of a row at the bottom here, I can remove one of your pieces. You can, yes, that's correct. Now which piece do I want to remove?

It has to be this one. It has to be that one. Top left. Which would be very wise, yes. Oh, well done. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. I've been in many battles in my time.

Yes. Fought many dangerous foes, strategic, all of them. How's this like fighting though? Well, it's like, I don't really know. I just sort of shoot shit all over the place. Well, I've made my shoot shit all over the place. Well, I have made my move. You have, you have made your move.

You've gone across the gals a good move. Yeah, that's what... Yes, I had to remember it is not just simply about taking pieces, but blocking movement as well. Right. Now, what if I was to just flip the table, you know? You certainly could. You have one move I can see that you could do,

but I think that's literally the only move you can make. Yeah, there's not really much I can move. The problem is, if I can't move, I lose, right? That's correct, yes. You've been really placed into it. You're playing the trap game, and I see you. I see you for who you are. Trap me, trap my piece, I dare you, I challenge you. In a circle.

Well, you left a gap open, they can put a third one down and make a line. Oh, they can't get there yet. I see. Hucky dog. It's not here on the defensive. Oh, so you blocked it now, nice. I have to block in the middle there.

You could have let them have it. I could have let you have it, but no, that's not in the spirit of the game. Is it not? There's a spirit in this game? It's haunted? Cometary. What am I missing with that move that you just did then?

It wasn't. It's a great question. So they can't diagonallyally they don't line up. It has to be straight line, not around a corner. As you're going into the inner square. I'm going into the top, the bottom middle, into the middle ring there, because I can just go back down again

and form another three. And you're purple, right? I'm purple, yes. They're gone. It's really hard to follow. Sorry, sorry. Have you got a token I can borrow? I want to go to the slots. Oh, not yet, no, I mean.

You've got bronze coins. You've got bronze coins. It takes bronze. Doesn't it? Oh no, it takes silver, isn't it, for that one? I can't remember what the machine takes. So they've gone to the middle square too, interesting. It's okay, I can just form another line. Does that count? Can I just chain it like that? Yes, you can, yes.

Oh, that's my mistake, I shouldn't have, I was blocking you in, but I moved my piece. Oh. Unfortunately, this is the sort of game where it punishes you for a mistake, unfortunately. Oh, gosh, I'm not very good at it. Oh, you're doing great, I think. Oh, thank you. I don't know. I've never played. Does that mean he gets to take another piece?

It does, yeah. The pieces are very pretty. They are, aren't they? Yeah. I want to eat one. Don't eat them. I don't think they'll be very good for you. I form another line. You do? You form a line on the inner square on the left, nice.

Yes, thank you, let's destroy them! I will, I will for you, Ophelia. Yes! Now what piece can I get rid of in order to make another line immediately? Sorry, I haven't taken a picture for the play-by-play for Pakesia. He's too much into it. The rate fell apart.

You're gonna have to get the stills from the game. Here, I'll take another one. No, don't take another one. Just take it from the start. Just use the still. Maybe take one of the pieces, the one in the middle there, in the middle ring. This really shouldn't be a group decision.

Sorry, I'm really into it. Yeah, you're right. You're welcome to play yourself, I suppose. I'll take rid of this one. Yes. Oh, good move. Thank you, thank you. Now, I suppose. I'll take rid of this one. Yes. Oh, good move. Thank you, thank you. Now they have nothing!

I got rid of the bottom middle. I still have all of my pieces preserved. Think carefully now. Yes, think carefully. Ophelia. Sorry. It's like fighting. I appreciate the support, I appreciate the support.

It's like fighting, but without running around and getting out of breath. It really is. Very little blood. Yes, I appreciate the support. It's like fighting but without running around and getting out of breath. It really is. Very little blood. Yes, I missed that bit. Now there are three avenues for which I can form a three in a row there. That's a lot of options. You've already set yourself up there, Zam.

Things well done. Difficulty, unfortunately, this is the sort of game where it's very difficult to come back. Yeah, yeah. Can you buy these lots separately? I like this game. Is there an expansion pack? Hmm, more squares.

Oh, more squares, yes. More battles. How much is this mark playing? I need this win. What is it like, no, I purposely made mistakes. Fuck. I'm glad to know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I would have thought less of you otherwise. No, no, no, I purposely made mistakes because I'm playing as a new player, right? Like, who doesn't know what she's doing. I guess it was on purpose. Of course it was. All right. You have four pieces remaining to my...

We get to keep them after the game. Can we keep these pieces? I'm gonna have to buy my own set. I left this one over here. I shouldn't have let these got bugged, trapped in. Yeah, that's my thinking too. Are the pieces made of sugar? They are very, they do look delicious.

No, but there are some trays coming round with more things. Rowan runs off. I'm winning this next two. We'll be right back. You've gone to the outer corner. I'll be honest, I don't know how they can win this. It could turn around in the last bit when they move freely.

Oh, so you're moving backwards and forwards. Yeah, I'm just unforming and reforming threes. Yeah, so it's difficult for them to get down there to block your ideas. You don't have to. Oh yeah, I know, but it doesn't matter. You can jump now. Yeah. Oh yeah, no, I could have jumped. That wasn't real mistake.

Oh, well congratulations, you won. Thank you, I did. I won with all of my pieces preserved. Does that gain me additional tokens or? I don't know, that's up to the casino I'm afraid. I just crushed my spirits unfortunately. Well it was a very good game. I'll like shake their hand. Oh did I miss the end?

I've got all these tiny little dishes. What for? I don't know, little sauces in there. If we get more tiny dishes, we don't need to buy the big dishes. And these ones are free. I'm confused about the dishes. I was really absorbed in the game.

I think if we put those on top, it'd be a nice little dessert. Now I do want to buy my own set of these. Yes? Is that available in the game? So yeah, I mean, you can probably find it in WaveMe. It would just be available. It won't be, you can't buy it from the casino.

No. From the Lamina Gardens. Just try and walk out with it. Yeah. I mean, the board is set into the table. Like, you can take the pieces and hide the whole table. Help me out, Rowan. Get the rod.

That's not gonna help at all. That's gonna do the exact opposite. I just wanted to hold the rod. You're not touching the rod. Push the button. I'm not pressing the button. Well, thank you very much for my great match. So with your victory, you would, I think, get...

You would get 20 fortune tokens. 20 fortune tokens? That's quite a 20 fortune tokens. 20 fortune tokens? That's quite a lot of tokens. This would do well in our tavern. It would, wouldn't it? That's a good idea. Yeah, you could totally go and get a custom set mate. This is like a game we haven't seen

outside of WaveMeet, right? It would probably be in big cities like Kel'sgarish, you'd be able to find Bronze Dragon gaming halls. They're not only in the one province. In a big city, you would probably have districts that cater to different provinces, and if they had a Bronze Dragon province, there would probably be some sort of gaming hall.

Nine Mages is a fairly common game that people play, so you'd be able to play it. In Caldra, it would be new to a lot of Ashen's Rest, but you might have people who are like, oh yeah, I've played this in Feroz, or I've played this in Kelskares, and stuff like that. We can bring it to Ashen's Rest. Bring it back, yeah.

We can make it a thing. Now if anybody wants to play again, I will let Kim play the NPC. No, because I've set myself up for a Baratheon. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Sorry, if one of us plays, we've never played it. a Baratheon. Yeah, sorry, one of us. I genuinely did make some early mistakes, but at the very end I totally just fucked it up.

But yeah, I'm also not thinking I'm going to be very good at this game because I don't think too many things ahead. No, well, no, I honestly, I thought I was going to lose. Even with your mistakes. Well, and if you make a mistake in this, it's very hard to come back. It's like very, very difficult. We do a winner stays on tournament. Well, and if you make a mistake in this, it's very hard to come back. It's like very, very difficult. We do a winner stays on tournament?

Yes, but I know you really want to play this. That's the thing, you need to put the board away because I'm just going to stare at it for the rest of the stream. Well, I think that maybe that could be a Patreon video. Hell yeah. But yeah, congratulations, you win your game. Thank you, 20 tokens, what can I do with these?

You see that the woman that you were playing with will go off and she'll, you know, she shakes her hand and makes her way, and she goes off and like sits and starts like playing by herself to try and like figure out what she did wrong and like tries to like figure something out. And there's like a few scattering of people

playing this game together, you know, sort of. You can definitely see that one older pair are very intensely playing, like, you know, sort of. You can definitely see that one older pair are very intensely playing, like, you know, seem to be like real, like taking a long time to like really analyze the board, and sort of like looking how it's being played and things like that. Maybe have played it quite a lot.

But yeah, this is sort of on the upper ring of the Lavender Gardens, and you can see that it splits off into different rooms. You do remember that the proprietor of the Lavender Garden, Raphael Ier Gildenthal, the dwarf who sort of welcomed you, mentioned that there were various other games. There was an actual like gold gambling game called Crown and Sword.

There is also a social deduction game that is played here, which is more of a sort of like group activity, one that can be played in large teams, sometimes booked out by parties and things like that as like a sort of entertainment. And there are also just like lots of, there are things like dart boards, there are things like physical ring toss game,

like there's games of all kinds, all spread around here, but these sort of seem to be the more interesting main ones. Does everything have like winnings to them? Is it a gambling element to everyone? So things like the social deduction game, no, you don't win anything for that. It's a recreational game. Just like memories.

It's like paying to do an escape room, or like paying to do a board game night, like, yeah, like, you know, paying to do a board game, like a board game cafe and stuff like that. The Crown and Sword is like a, it's a kind of poker-like card game, and that is like, you bet and wager real gold. It's not through tokens, it's all actual like, gold, gold. And you can see that it can handle tables up to six players,

oh no, six or seven players can fit on a single table of Crown and Sword. But yeah, you guys finished up the Game of Nine Mages? There was also, I think you said last time, there was like a prize checkout thing with the tokens that you have, right? Yeah, and that is shared across all of the province and any gaming halls basically. So these tokens are like universal, they're accepted like in any of them. And you can see that each one does have like an arcane mark of where it was acquired from.

So this one has like a symbol for the lavender garden, it's like a purple flower in like a little circle with an LG written on it. And they're like little chips, they're like little domino pieces, like little pieces of stone, probably, like carved polished stone with like marked in. I mean, with 20 of these,

I must be able to buy the entire place out. Certainly not. In fact, you are looking at like, you're sort of talking at like minimum of like 100, 200 for very simple items. Oh. Oh, okay. You can get like a drink for 20. You can enjoy a lovely cocktail for 20.

I have to... Did you just break? No, I just... What was that? Farted. No, that was a weird fart. Also, you can be alive. No, I just cracked the charlaying table.

So you just tapped in half. But yes I just cracked the trolley on the table. So you snapped in half. But yes, the table. So that's what you guys see. Is there anything, do you guys want to play any more games here, do you want to go off somewhere else? Like what is the plan? I feel bad that Gruff is just sitting in a. Don't, don't.

No? No, I'm enjoying this. I just had a weird vision that Gruff does not mind that we are just enjoying ourselves at these mini games. That's a weird way of putting it. You see, Mateo also played a game of Nine Mages and has lost thoroughly. He lost as badly as the lady that played Xanthias did

where he lost all of his pieces and didn't take one. I don't think I'm very good at this game. That's a shame. Did you go first or second, Mateo? I went first. Really? Yes. I thought it was heavily stacked towards the person going first, but maybe not.

What? No, I don't. As someone over there you could play, they seem, well, they lost as Anthea, so maybe that's a good starting point. Or I'm very good at the game. It could be that. Or I just saved my gold for a game

that actually would probably be a loss. Oh, you should have a look at the slots then. Oh yes, save my gold for a game that I actually would probably win. Oh, you should have a look at the slots then. Oh yes, I wanted to have a look at those. I lost all my tokens. Well actually, seeing how you fared with the guards, I know you weren't lying to them obviously, but I mean there is that, what is it, social something game?

Oh, what does it call? Something to do with lying? Something, yes, yes, something like that. I don't remember. Oh yeah. That's true, you'd probably be good at that. You might be good at that. You're good at talking. That's really true, but you don call? I think it has something to do with lying. Yes, yes, something like that. I don't remember, but I do. That's true, you'd probably be good at that. You might be good at that. You're good at talking.

That's really true, but you don't win anything for it. It's sort of, oh, just for fun. I can lie to people for fun whenever I want. Yes. Which you haven't been doing to us at all. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not at all. Mateo, if that is your real name. Dead Eye.

Dead Eye. Dead Eye, yes. What was it? Scalebane. Yes. You're right, yes. What was it? Scalebane. Yes. You're right, yes. Yeah?

Ah. You're my best friend. I can show you the slots if you like. I'd love to have a look at them, yes. Well, okay. Yeah, you go back down to like the main, sort of main floor, and there are just these rows and rows of these lucky frog machines.

You're very lucky. Huh? You're a lucky person. I? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you strike me as lucky. Well, I think if we, what we should do. Yes. And I've thought about this throughout that whole game.

Yeah. We try and do them all at the same time. Yes! Right. That way we're guaranteed to win something. How many are there again? Quite expensive. There's quite a few, there's probably like 20 or 30

of these machines. Yeah, some of them are taken up by other people. Is one gold a go? Only one gold a go. Was it one gold? Yeah! I think how much did the wind save? Oh yeah!

Wasn't it bronze? No! He had bronze. No. Gold? He saved the bronze for the clever toad back home and spent like five gold. Okay, I've looked.

Hey. Six gold or something. Worst case, five gold. Okay, I've looked. Hey. Six gold or something. Worst case, it'll be fun, right? Exactly, yes. So let's do two machines each, kind of. Yes. At the same time. All right, we'll do six.

I feel powerful. Eight. Eight total. Mateo, do you want to? Mateo. Sure, yeah, I'll jump in. Yes, why not? Ten.

Ten machines at once. So you all line up. Do you need some money? One. Wait, Ophelia. Yes? You've got major end. Yes. Can we do an extra one for Gruff?

Yes, we can, we can. Good idea, good idea. That's a very good idea. So that's 11. Eleven machines. At the same time. Whoever is using the machines is one gold a pull and you roll 3D8 for each pull.

And then tell me your results as you get through it. Can I turn up as a random NPC? Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum. Do you want to just roll for fun? I just wanna roll for fun. You may roll for fun. You can roll the Mage Hand one. Okay, so which is it, three?

3D8. 3D8. You can be the disgruntled person next to us on the machines who's been there for weeks. How did you just describe the weekend? Right, what did you get, Katie, on your first one? Five, six, seven. Five, six, seven. Five, six, seven. That's a straight.

You get a straight, yeah, and it flashes up, it kind of flashes with lights. Daisy, I told you, lucky. It's seven, seven is the blue-hatted, like, handsome wizard on seven. Was that a lemon? Six is like a star, and then five is like a lemon. But it flashes up and, so five, six, seven, 18.

So yeah, that would be 18 fortune tokens. Wow, okay, that machine's going. My one, I got two, three, three, so I just got a pair. A pair of threes? Ah, three fortune tokens for you. Nice. That's definitely worth the gold. The comparative number is-

What did Gruff roll? 337. 337, same thing, you get three, the Mage Hand gets three tokens. So who wants to take that? Someone can take that. That would be a failure, because the Mage Hand-

Cool, you get three tokens for Gruff. I'll give them to Gruff. Okay. Rowan, your first one. Six, seven, eight. Six, seven, eight, so another straight, right? No, yeah, six, seven, eight, yeah. So it's the same thing, star, wizard, lucky frog. Tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff.

Let's see, 13, what are they? 21, 21 fortune tokens. Tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff, tiff. Hell yeah. Whoa. By the science. So many tokens. Shhh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, Well done everyone. Second one. I already lost four, I'm eating it. The Mage hand just drops. Four, three and two. Oh thank you Mage hand. Oh I got big nothing.

A big nothing. Two, four, eight. Nothing I'm afraid for you Daisy. I got one for eight. One, four, eight, nothing for Xanthias. Two, three, seven. Two, three, seven, nothing. Two, three, eight.

Nothing. Four, five, two. Four, five, nothing. Oh, grab and break them all. Yes. Damn it. Well I got 24, should we share them out? Why are you rolling again? I don about nothing. I'm about nothing. I'm about nothing. Yes. I'm about nothing. Damn it. Well, I got 24. Should we share them out?

Why are you rolling again? I don't know. You got your ball? I'm in it. I'm in it deep now. Yeah, this is the problem. We have to spend money to make money. You're spending real money for tokens

that as you've seen, you need quite a lot of to get anything even remotely good. I spent one gold on three tokens and three tokens for some of the items that were available is probably worth like half a bronze. Yeah, it's like maybe a, like you know like when you go to the tick machine as a kid and you get like the finger monster for like, you know, 20 tickets or whatever.

But they're amazing though. What's the cheapest prize that is in the thing? What's the, like the hundred token? It would be like a candy. Like it's like a single candy, basically. A hundred tokens? No, no, not for a hundred tokens, sorry. Not for a hundred, because there are tokens,

like I said, you can get a drink for like 20. You can get like some food for like 30. So like a single token is like one candy. Okay, okay. I can get 18 pieces of candy! I can get 23. What about, what's the... You're up to like 40.

What's the lowest level? Oh no, you only won three. What's the lowest level? I found this on the web. Shh. Why? I don't think we can switch. Percy's heart.

I found this on the web. What's like the lowest level prize beyond like candy and drinks? Food and like things like that. Yeah, what's way. What's like the lowest level prize beyond like candy and drinks? Food and like things like that. Yeah, what's the item that's like the lowest? Like the actual listed as a prize. It'd be a hat.

A Lavender Gardens hat. That's actually amazing. Now I'll say that that will be 60 tokens. It's like a little, it's like a kind of Robin Hood purple hat. That's incredible. We haven't won that yet, so. We should get one as a group,

and how everybody have purple hats. So 60 tokens, how many wins do we need? Six, 12, 18, 21, 24. From Miami, you got 20. 20? Yeah. No, I have 100 man. And Robin got that one spin. Yeah, I mean, there's slots, man.

Was it 20? Yes. Yeah, six,, there's slots, man. Was it 20? Yes. Yeah, it was six, seven. 21. 21. Can you buy those prizes just outright in the concierge? No. Okay. I was like, how much is there, actually?

So we have to convert our money into premium currency. Yes. Through gambling. Yes. In order to buy these cosmetics. Okay, roll 3D8 for me please Rowan. Well if Rowan is... If Rowan is then I will.

Two, six, eight. Do I get to roll again? No. Three, three, six. Three, so a pair of threes, you get three tokens. 24 tokens. No, no, I've lost it all, I've lost all my luck. I never had any to begin with.

Two, five, four. The next one. The next one, yes, I'll have to do it again I think, five, four. The next one. The next one, yes, I have to do it again, I think. Two more gold. Just one more. I'm, I think. Great, I don't know, I've had a really hard week, I don't know, I didn't prep that much.

I can still pack, it's great. These machines are bust, I'm afraid, so I'm not gonna do anymore. Three, one, eight. Especially with how much I've just spent. Maybe I pull it like, less hard. You are spending a gold each time? Yes. Good.

I am. Oh no. No, it's not working. I reckon there like less hard. You are spending a gold each time? Yes. Good. I am. No. No, it's not working. I reckon there's a technique to it. Yes, there must be. Maybe try like, before you put the coin in, kind of give it a blow and then put it in, like kiss it maybe.

A little kiss, yes. Yeah, the blessings of Percy. How many kisses? I did three. Three kisses, it might be three. Blessings of the Great Father to you. Sure, it did work. 436, this is terrible. Wait, did you say blessings Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. get one token. You get one. You get one token. Hooray! Two fives, five tokens. Okay, maybe this is not the best.

I'm on and up, I'm on and up. I'm on and up. I'm on and up. You can't put it like that. All this building up! But Fido, how much money do you have left? I have 49 gold. Oh, you cannot join in a round in Crown and Sword

if you wanted to do that, so 50 gold buy-in. Samthius, can I have one gold, please? If you want to play the card game. What we can do is, oh, is it? The actual game. No, we can play crown and sword, the actual game. Crown and sword, I mean, I'd like to play crown and sword. You play crown and sword?

What was it, 50 buy-in? I'll give you a gold of 50. Yes, you buy in 50 gold, and they give you chips of the equivalent, and then the pot is how much gold you can win. I'll give you a gold. All right, look. I could do one more spin though.

No, no, no. Rowan, what are you doing? How much have you spent? That's what you're supposed to be going. Are you marking up this gold? Yes. He wants this hat so bad. I'm up to five, four.

How much gold have you got? Rowan, we're gonna go try out this other game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just gonna do one more spin, because I'm on another. You just spent the one that Daisy gave you. Two more ones! Another one for me! We are on the up! It's happening!

It's happening! It's happening! Okay, if you want to stay in the slot, we're gonna go try out this other game. Do you tell me if you get a triple, because the rules change. Five, seven, eight. The rules change! Oh, I've got to get it! There's a different rule set!

But you earn more points, you get more tokens back. Four, one, two, four. No. That was out of the box. Keep in mind that eight... Hold! Eight, eight! Eight, eight, one!

Eight, eight, one, so a pair of eights, you get eight tokens. Now if that had been triple eight, that is a jackpot. That's even more, that's crazy. I'm up to 42, the hat is within reach. I can do one more. For the hat, to help Rowan get his hat. Rowan, do you want my 18?

No, the button was nothing. Three, four, one. It wouldn't be right. Rowan, do you want my 18? No, this box was nothing. Three for one. It wouldn't be right. Rowan, I'm not going to put another one down. I got one, damn you. As a point everybody, I do want to say at home, gambling addiction is a real problem, and if you do feel compulsion to keep going,

you should seek out professional help. It's not a matter. Three! I got three! Yes! It's a magic number! 45. Stop, stop, it's time to stop.

Rowan, you have 50. You don't want the 18. You're 10 away, you're 10 away from the hat. Rowan, do you want 10? I can't right now, I'm breaking my flow. But I have 10, you can have the hat right now. You're breaking the fortune! Two, seven, four, no. Not yet.

I'm just rolling for funsies, and I've got a six, seven, eight. That's great. That's pretty good. If you were really doing it, you'd have won some points. My flow is all broken. That was a fake roll. I just wanted to join in. We're really not avoiding the high rollers adjacent scene name are we? It's just never actually. It's like I'm just watching Trott just constantly marking off gold, rolling dice.

You can imagine Rowan is just sat there pumping gold in. Ka-tang, ka-tang. He's like sat on the stool and he's just got like gold. Like, ch-ch-ch-ch. I'm like high-fiving the local. Yeah. And it's like the local is this grizzled gnome

who's like on a step and he's just like, yeah, man. Yeah! I'm on 51. 51, Rowan, that's pretty good. How much gold do you have remaining, just out of interest? 51.

I kind of want to watch this happen. I've got more tokens than gold. Do you remember when everyone asked me... Oh my God. He sold a ruby. He sold a ruby and split it with Ophelia. Oh God. Do you remember when everyone asked me

why Jeezy had so much money? Two more times. This. At this point, Rowan's got one eye closed, he's hopping on the left leg, and he's like, one, two, three, four. Okay. One, five, two, three, four. Okay.

One, five, six. Okay, other right. You can do this. Other right. One, two, three. Seven, three, four. Damn it. All right, I kissed the coin four times. You did that bit right, yes. And then hopping on the left leg.

Was there any blessings? No blessings that time. No blessings. What about sostenuto? Maybe like a pluck string? That's a good point No blessings. What about sostenuto? Maybe like, a pluck of strings? Oh, that's a good point. One spin, plug. Two. Six, three, eight.

OK, different string. There's plenty of strings. One. It's helping. It's helping. OK, OK. Sostenuto might make the difference. And you've had one triple tie tie.

No trips. So if I just do 20 notes, that's 20 tokens. Dillillillillillill. This might be the one. I think this is it. I think, I think. Here we go, here we go. Eight, eight, eight. Eight, three, four.

Oh, that's nothing, that's not it. That's nothing, that's nothing. If you ever, guys, at home, if you ever need your players to just spend a long time in this session and give you a break, introduce a gambling mini-game. Dammit. Easiest thing you can do.

Obviously it meant this time is the big one. You didn't put the point? No, no, I'm just doing this for fun to see if I can. Seven, seven, six! Seven, seven, six. Oh my God! You're one away! I'm not quite there!

You're not quite there, you're one away! 59! I just got two more. One more coin! I can't count. Ron, what if you just nudge the machine a little bit? I just got nine in the last two rolls. Defile the sanctity of the slot.

Oh, it doubles again, that's not important. Like, if only you were actually doing this. The three rolls I just did. This is my final roll. This is it. Two and eight. Okay, well, not the final roll. Two, one.

You can't go out on a loss. No. Here you go. Just need one. Three, three knackered, guys. Two! I did it! 61!

That's an odd number, though. How's it all going? It's bad times. What are you gonna do with one, two? A very nice, kind of slender, wild heart girl, like cat is girl, is like, drink sir, you've been... Oh, thank you so much. Thank you very much, of course. One token, right?

What's that? One token? No, no, these are complimentary. These are the complimentary ones. Oh, thank you so much. Yes. Are you having a good time? Have you got any more?

Yes, yes, yes. I'm so tired. Yeah, I have some more. He's won the hat. Oh, well done, well done. Well, he's yet to buy it. Yes, yes, yes. I'm so tired. Yeah, I have some more. He's won the hat. Oh, well done, well done. Well, he's yet to buy it. Oh, just the hat. You don't want the jacket that goes along with it.

How much is the jacket? The jacket's like easy, like 300 tokens, but it matters the same color. It's like a kind of satin vest jacket with like lavender gardens embroidered on the back and like it's like got trimmed down the front. That's amazing. What's the, wait, so that one over there costs 50.

How many tokens can you get for that one if you win that? What one? The card game. The gambling one. The gambling one, the actual for loss. Well no, that's gambling for gold, that's not tokens. That's like actual winning gold. Gold.

More gold, more slots, more slots. I'm winning back. Give that a go. I mean I have 50 spare to get more slots. I'm willing to give that a go. I mean, I have 50 spare to pay for this. I'm not gonna lie, I would have made so many tokens if I had been paying, because I keep rolling doubles like every time. And this trod just like,

does anyone need the 50 buy-in for this? This is for actual gold, this one. Yes, I do. How much do you have in the- I have 45, I only need five. Okay, what about the one that Daisy just gave you? 40. You spent that on the spot. He spent it, he did. I did spend it on the spot. How much do you have in the... I have 45, I only need five. What about the one that Daisy just gave you? 40... You spent that on the spot.

I did spend that on the spot. Yes, I did, so still five, sorry. Okay, here's five gold. Thank you! But only to enter into this card game. Okay. That's easier. I'll save you the trouble.

Five, six, seven. Five, six, seven, 21! I'm in trouble. Jing, jing, jing, jing! I need to get more money. I got another double. I got 44. How'd you have all this gold?

I got another double. Stop! I got another double. This is insane, you're not even doing it. That would've been 12, 30. These two have like just blank, blank, blank. I got another double. It's terrible.

I don't know how they keep doing it. I got another double. Every single one. Pay money, pay money! Put gold in, put gold in. Spend some money. Now it'll stop as soon as I spend money. I have faith, I have faith.

Faith! Faith in the heart. Do one, Katie, and if it comes up with nothing, then that's it. Okay. That's the sign. One gold one. Yeah, I'm still getting it. They came up with nothing. They're right, so one, Katie, and if it comes up with nothing, then that's it. Okay. That's the sign. One gold one. Yeah, I'm still getting nothing.

They came up with nothing. Right, so Katie puts like, you just win nothing back on Day 3. Right. But I would have had like. You would have had like 100. I would have had the fucking jacket by now. You would easily would have.

So. And you spend that one. Do you want to go to the crown and sword lobby, the parlor that they call it, where they play this game. I think so, that sounds like fun, doesn't it? Who is buying in? Does anyone know the rules of this game? I will tell you.

As you make your way up there, you can see all of the tables are crescent moon shaped. There is a dealer behind it. Dealers of all different ancestries and lineages, all wearing the same sort of smart shirt with a little purple tie, rolled up kind of sleeves, little vests sometimes, and they are dealing out cards. And you watch a couple of hands

and you get the gist of the game. For the sake of the mechanics of us playing it, this is a card game, but we're gonna use dice to kind of simulate your hand. The way that works is it's kind of like a poker-esque game where you get a couple of cards and then you bet, you raise, you call, you fold, then you get another couple of cards,

you bet, raise, call, fold, you get a final card, and then that's it, it's whoever has the best hand. To simulate this, the way it works is every round, so the first round, you roll a d10, a d8, or a d6, and you keep the result hidden to yourself. You then bet on what that's gonna be, what kind of hands you think you're gonna get. Then the next round, you roll one of the other two dice.

So if you rolled the d8, you would roll either a d10 or a D6. Everybody does a round of betting. The final round, you roll the last remaining dice that you've got left, and then you add that total up together and whoever has the highest has the best hand, effectively. But you keep all of those rolls secret,

so only you know, but you know what kind of dice the other person's rolled. So you know if they've rolled their d10, their d6, or their, uh, the end. So if they start betting high early, they'd probably roll good on their, what? Or you could bluff it with a d6, roll the d6, get a one, but you try and bluff that you got a six, you know.

Or you could roll the d10 and be like, oh, 10, and you know, bluff it. Excuse me, is note taking allowed at this table? Note taking, no, I'm afraid not, sir. Okay, no, that's okay, that's okay. I don't have a notepad anyways. Yeah, there's no, things like card counting and stuff, like you could try and do.

There are mechanics, so if you want to cheat, then it's a sleight of hand roll, opposed by perception of the dealer and your fellow players. Cheating is likely to get you kicked out. You can also, because this does have betting and folding, you can use deception to force an NPC. You can't force a player to fold. But you can use deception to try and force an NPC to fold,

opposed by their insight. You can use insight to force any player, whether an NPC or another player at the table, to reveal their D8, D6, or D10, one of their results, but you don't get to see all of them. So you can only do that once. So it's like, you can be like, yeah, what'd you get on your D10?

And they're like, oh, I got a three, but they maybe got a six and an eight on their roll and they're still gonna beat you. So it's like, you can kind of gleam a bit of information out of them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's excited about it, I know. I'm scared. Oh, I spat everywhere. Is it right if I watch? Yes, yes, of course, yes, of course, yes.

You don't want to play, Rowan? For the sake of this, Kim, would you like to play, let's say there's an NPC at the table. I don't mind. Did you buy that hat? Because I'm not so good, I don't like these kinds of games. OK, sure. I was just going to have you roll for the NPC, but it's OK. I can roll, yeah.

I'm not good at the bluffing and all of that stuff. Yeah, well, this is because it's mechanical. So it's just like, you don't have to bluff. You only choose to bluff if you want to try and make a deception check to try and plug it in. Well, guess what I'm doing, because I've just given it away. Oh, that's fine.

You can also play it. You don't have to bluff at all. Like if you get a good roll, you can just bet, or if you get a shit roll, you just fold. Sorry, I just got two more doubles in a row and a one, two, three. She's been rolling constantly since then. Tell me she's been like one, two, three. She'd have like four million credits at this point.

I would. It's a shame. No money. But yes, that is the rules of Crown and Sword. I am willing to buy in. Who is buying in? I would like to buy in. Yes, please do, I've paid for it.

So, Zan, you have 50 gold of chips, basically. 50 gold of chips. Ophelia, you also now have 50 gold of chips. 50 gold of chips. Keep a note of this, you're gonna wanna keep a note of how many chips you have. I'd like to buy in, please. This is, you would meet Valeria Livia.

Valeria Livia. Where am I from? You are from? Texas, apparently. Valeria Livia. Let's say you lived in Kelskares. You're originally from Caldera, but you've lived most of your life in Kelskarish.

I'm just a humble Caldor. So you have 50 chips worth of betting. 50 chips, thank you. Anybody else buying in? I don't know, I'm really low. Daisy, no, Rowan, no? Do you have none left? I've got 13 calls.

I will then do another NPC. You would see a halfling, he's got like a massive pompadour haircut. He's wearing like a rolled up like sleeved shirt. He's got like a diamond earring. He's got a gold tooth and he's like, hello there, hello, I'm Eric, Eric Westhammer, lovely to meet you.

Very good. Hello Eric, sorry, just in an alternate universe I just got a glimpse of a jackpot. Really? Oh, it's a shame you. Very good. Hello, Eric, sorry, just in an alternate universe, I just got a glimpse of a jackpot. Really? Well, it's a shame you didn't roll. Can I pay money and get a jackpot? No. These are not, if you had said you'd been spending gold,

you'd have those points. You have to win it, I'm afraid. How much gold would I have spent to get the jackpot? No. All of it. No, no, no, no, no. I don't know how much I spent. Then you need to stop rolling. It's fun.

I've done really fucking well. There's another double. So. There's another. Can our friend roll anything? He doesn't have 50 gold on him right now, but only 13. That is such a nice hat. You've noticed?

I noticed that. Thank you very much. I can't believe it. It's purple, like a long Robin Hood sort, sort of like, you know, pointed hat. It has like a feather in it, and it has the LG. That's amazing. That's a really fancy hat. That's a very fancy hat.

Thank you very much. But he doesn't have enough to buy him for the full 50. Is he able to pay him just 13? I'm afraid not, it's a 50 gold minimum buy-in, I'm afraid. That's all right, my game is elsewhere. I believe in you, Godspeed. Alright, I'll be back. Those of you playing, so Kim's gonna play one of the NPCs,

I'll do the other one. It begins, we'll start with, you have to buy in, let's say it'll be a five chip, but you have to bet the blind, basically. So we're all down to 45. What other notebook? Battle notebook. Yeah. What?

Then you get your first card. So you have a choice now of a D10, a D8, or a D6. You can choose which one you roll. Should we go round in a circle? Yeah, it will be. You will sort of announce what kind of dice you're rolling, but you obviously keep the results secret. Okay.

Me first? Yeah. I am using my d6, the lowest dice. Very interesting. Keep the results. Very interesting. All right, keep the results. Very interesting. Valeria, the NPC. I look at the card and go. Are you, would you like to try and bluff? With a deception roll?

Not yet, not yet. Yes, so you choose one of the three, so D8, D10 or D6, and you keep the result secret. Daisy, I swear to God you've got a point card. I would like to buy me a D8. I'm not playing. You're not? Well, you don't buy it, and you keep the result secret. Daisy, I swear to God, if you look my cards. I would like to buy me a D8. I'm not playing. You're not? Well, you don't buy it, you just roll it, so.

That's why. Okay. Okay, you keep the result secret. Anophilia. I am rolling a D8. Interesting. Okay, Elric will also roll his d8. And technically this is like the cards that you're being sort of dealt. So you get around.

So now he's open to the first round, starting with Xanthias. This is where you can call, you can raise, you can fold. So we would call the five by it? So it's like poker right now, you can check basically, like not bet at all. I bet five. Okay, so you're gonna bet in five, so it would then go to Valeria to either match the bet or fold or raise.

I will match. Okay, so you match, so you put in five, Ophelia. Chump. I'll match. You'll match as well, five. You will see Elric will fold. He's like, nah, nah. Just folds his hand.

Okay. So we currently have, so 20, and then, so it's 35 at the moment, pot. Alright, so now you choose one of the other remaining dice. So if you use your D8, for example, you have your D10 and your D6 left. I'm using my D8. Okay. Second lowest. Okay.

Very interesting. Very interesting. What do you do with your face this time? I look at the card and I go... Alright, okay. Alright, Valeria you choose? I did not listen to the rules, so I'm just going to choose the D10. Okay, so you choose either D10 or D6. I am. Okay, Valeria, you choose. I did not listen to the rules, so I'm just gonna choose a d10. Okay, so you choose either d10 or d6.

I am. Okay, great. Roll that, and then keep the result secret. Hand it all up together. And then Ophelia. I am rolling a d6. You're rolling a d6, saving your d10 for last, okay. Right, okay. All right, okay.

So now it's, and then it's the final round of betting now, starting with Xanthias. Do you like to check, raise, or fold? I don't think this deck of cards is shuffled, because, wow. I will bet 10. 10! 10! All right, so Valeria, it's up to you to either call,

fold, or even raise. The call one is where I'm like, I'm calling you out on your bullshit. No, as in like, you are gonna just match the 10. So you just, you have to bet, you either now have to either bet a minimum of 10 or fold or raise. And if you raise, I have to pay in more to join.

Yeah. So if you think you've got, you know, a really good chance of winning. I'm going to fold. You're going to fold it out, okay. All right, so Valeria, you're out now. You don't continue. But any gold you've spent is gone.

Like that's in the pot now. All right, Ophelia. I'll raise to 10. So you raise another 10 or you're going to match his 10? Raising another 10. So you're going 20 in? Yes. All right, 20 in.

I just had a feeling about mutual assured destruction. Remind me, Ophelia, what cards have you used so far? Am I allowed to divulge that information? Yeah. Well no, it's up to Xanthius to remember what you've rolled. I was not paying attention. Well.

Ooh, whose problem is that? What dice have you got remaining? That's what the cards are. No, you don't have to tell him. I'll find out, I guess, next time. I guess you will. All right. So you have to put in another 10.

I'm, I'm at you. So you put in another 10? I'm going in to join you on this next hand. All right, the bet is now currently equal. So you guys have marked off. This is so fun. you guys have marked off what you've put in so far, right, so the pot is currently at 75 golds worth of chips. So roll your final dice. By D10.

What have you got left? D10. Shit. And then the deal of it. Very interesting. Very interesting. That is the most interesting thing that could ever happen. Really?

It's looking quite interesting over here. Honestly, I've never been more interested in my life. Really? I can't take my eyes off it. Could the players please reveal their final hands? There's not another round of betting? No, there's the final round of betting. please reveal their final hands? There's not another round of betting? No, there's the final round of betting.

Even after the final card? No, no, that's the part of it, is you don't know the exact results. Well, let's reveal our sixes first, shall we? Okay. I got a five. I got a four. I'm in the lead.

What'd you get in your D8? An eight. Are you fucking for real? I am for real. I got a three. Okay, and then your D10s. Yeah. Mother fucker, I got a three again.

Yes! I thought there was another round of betting after the game of cards. So, 75 chips go to Affiliate. I mean, we were all two seven. I was like, yeah. When you were like eight, I was like, he's fucked. I mean, it's fair, I was like bluffing away

through the entire thing. I should have expected that. I didn't expect it. Now I want to say Ophelia would do that. I should have expected Rhee was gonna go there. There probably would be as well, like there's probably like, when you do the pots, like the winning pots,

it's probably 80% of it goes to you and then like 20% goes to the house. But for the sake of, I can't be bothered working that out. So I'm just gonna say that that happens, but the gold you get is the gold you get. Like, we'll just, like, because I don't wanna do math. Very well done, I feel you. I couldn't beat you at all.

Oh, thank you. So, people can drop out of the game at any point. It's just 50 gold buy-in to start a game. Do you guys want to play another round? I'd like to play another round. All right, we'll do one more round, and then maybe we'll cut to some other stuff. I've only got one point we left.

You've got like 95, right? I've got all my money, baby. Yeah, back to the slot she goes. Yeah, all right. All right, so five gold button from everybody. Oh, god, that's like all my money, baby. Yeah. Back to the slot she goes. Yeah, all right. All right, so five gold, but end from everybody. Oh god, that's like all my money. And then everybody choose which one of your dice you wish to roll first.

I'm gonna mix up the strategy this time. I'm starting with the D10. Oh. Oh, interesting. Very interesting. Very interesting. I love that you can see this every time. Very interesting.

Honestly, I'm not as interested in this one. No. No. No, last time around I was very interested, clearly, in poor hands. All right, everybody's chosen the dice roll, so you did D10, Tom. I did D10, yeah. What did Valeria, the NPC, do?

I'm gonna go for a D6. You're gonna go for a D6, okay, keep it secret. Ophelia? D6 also. D6 also. Elric is going to do a D10. But also, Elric is gonna cast an eye towards Xanthias. He's gonna try and make an insight roll. Can you make a deception check, please, Xanthias?

Really now? Mm-hmm. Where are my D20s? Katie? You have to ask for them. Katie, can I please? You may. Here you go. Have a good them. KT, can I please? You may, here you go. Every time.

He doesn't, I watch her do it, and he's just like looking elsewhere, and she just will be like, youp. 10. 10? Can you reveal to me, you can write it down and pass the note, what your roll on your dice was, please.

Show them that, please. Any piece of paper? Oh yeah, show me on a dice., please. Tell him that, please. Yeah. Any piece of paper? No. Show me on a dice. On my D10 I got a big roll. Okay, nice. All right, and he kind of like looks, seems to suss, sussed around a little bit.

All right, so round of betting. We'll start with Valeria this time, the NPC. So do you wish to, you can do what's checking, which is you make no bet and it will just carry on, but then somebody can raise after you. Or you can put money in. I'm gonna check. Okay, so you check, so Ophelia?

I will also check. Okay, check. Elric will just flex his coins and he's gonna put in 10 gold. Oh. 10 gold, wow. Feeling brave. Hmm, wow. Feeling brave. Hmm, curious.

So the bet is currently at 10. So if you win to stay in the round, it's gonna come back round to you two. You're gonna have to put 10 in if you wanna keep it there. There goes Zanthias. Can I insight check Ophelia? Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, I'd say so, yeah. So it's insight opposed by deception, Ophelia. Yeah, yeah absolutely, yeah I'd say so, yeah. So it's an insight opposed by deception Ophelia,

so the two of you roll. Ophelia. Yeah, I had that. That was a brilliant sound. 16, 14. Okay, you get no reads. Ophelia's just, yeah, straight faced. Dead eyes.

Dead eyes, that's his job. So it's your bet. Okay, no, I got nothing out of that. You know what? I don't have many chips remaining. Let's join you on that one. Okay, so you're gonna put in 10. I put in 10.

So the pot is currently at... Confidently. 40. So you need to put in 10. I'll match it. Okay, so you put another 10 in as well. All right, and then Ophelia's 10 to stay in. I will also match.

All right, whoa, big pot. You can see Elric is just like, ah, this is what I like to see, a lovely big pot. Lovely. All right, next, choose one of your remaining dice, either one of the two left. Give that a roll. I'll go with my D6.

All right, Elric is also gonna do a D6. Are they straight to Ness? No. It's just the dice are a mechanic to represent the cards. We got one, two, three. Or is Tom bluffing? What did Valeria roll? It's very interesting.

A d10. D10, Ophelia? D10. A d10, all right. So Valeria, you start the betting this time, Valeria. So you can check again, or you can raise. I'll check. Okay, check.

Check. Check. Elric will check this round. Ooh. I'd like to make an insight check on him. You can make it once per player, I will say, so yes. Once per player, yeah, okay. 15. 15.

24. Fucking hell. It's a permanent great time. What is that confidence? I don't know what that is. That's so strange, the faces. He's wiggling his eyebrows a lot, Xanthius. It's kind of weird.

I think he's just licked them. Very interesting. Why not all in? Which is what, 10 gold? Five. Five. All right. All in, okay. I dramatically push in five chips.

Five chips, all right, so it's five to match, stay in Valeria. I tip my hat to you. I match. All right, okay, Ophelia? I match. All right, and then Elric. Ophelia? I'll match. Alright. And then Elric.

Elric will match that as well. Alrighty. So it's a full match, so you roll your last die. This is the final. Come on, please. Come on. Please! Wow.

Very interesting. All right. Our kernel players, please reveal their hands. So do you want to start with the D6s again? I only got a three on my D6, I'm afraid. Okay. A very low roll this time. I got a three as well.

A three. I got a four. A four. Ooh. One on the D6 for Elric. Ooh. Oh. On my D8, I got a four. A four. One on the D6 for Elric. Ooh. On my D8, I got a five.

A five on the D8, Valeria. I got an eight. An eight. You bitch. I got a three. A three. Five for Elric. Six, wait, what you on now? You're on 11.

I don't think I can beat you. All right, D10. No, I can't. I got a three on my D10. You really like the number three. Three on the D10. I got a seven. A seven.

I also got a three. A three from Ophelia. That's an eight from Elric. So I think that that is gonna be only 14 for Elric, which is... 18. 18, so yeah, the NPC Valeria takes the pot. 80.

Very well done. 80 gold. Well done. Wow, I didn't see that coming. Yeah, Elric will, he'll put his hands up and be like, that's me. I think you really like the number three today. I'm out of chips, I'm afraid.

Yeah. I think I'm also out. Yes. So with that big win, the NPC takes home a lovely big pot. But Ophelia was up, I think, right? By the end of it, yeah. So Ophelia was up on chips. What did you get in the end?

I finished on 75, so I won 25. That's pretty good. Hey, can I have my five back? Would you like 25 back? What? The 25 that I won, would you like that? Yeah. Yes, I will leave that to you then. Thank you.

Oh, well here we are. That's, I mean I just- Well, we gave you five. Yeah, I gave you five to buy into the game. I know, but you helped buy me in and all sorts. Aw. I'm working, I owe you guys a lot of money. I'm working my way around it, don't worry.

Would you like 100 chips? I just wanna- No! You were rolling for them, you are not controlling them with that. What a lovely person. I just wanna... No! You were rolling for them, you are not controlling them. With that. What a lovely person. They just gave me all their chips.

What have Rowan and Daisy been doing? Just watching the game, or have you guys been off doing stuff? Okay, here we go. Oh no, why did I ask? Nope. Nope. One.

Have you seen the others? No, I've not seen them. Are you actually gonna spend gold on the machine now? Where are all those? I can hear lots of dinging. There's a lot of dinging. Dammit! Oh, that's Rowan, that's definitely Rowan.

Three, four, five! Four? Three, four, five! Three, four, five, so seven, 12. The machine's by rating 12. I got four tokens. Four tokens for Daisy. How much gold have you got left, Rowan? Okay, sorry, you're in the zone, sorry.

The flow state. Double five, so that's five. That's five. One. Oh, Daisy's playing as well. Oh, Daisy. Three. How are you doing, Daisy?

Well, I spent three gold and I have nine tokens. Okay, that's really good. An unbelievable turn. That's miles better than what I was doing. Yeah, I'm doing okay, I think. I think you are. That's pretty good, I told you you were lucky. You'll have that jacket in no time.

Six, seven, eight. I mean, probably not. Six, seven, eight. 21. The big straight. It's one of the, I think it's the equal second highest you can win. 21.

Equal second highest, so it's the jackpot. 21. Equal to second highest, so is the jackpot 21? No. 24 isn't it? Wait what? There's only one way to know what the trick is. There's only one way to know. But keep going, yes. 21 one jack.

Keep a note of how much gold you spend. Oh, this is, yeah. Oh, right. This place is amazing. I am having so much fun. I'm gonna give you guys like two more rolls and then I'm moving on. Well in that case. I mean if that's the whole thing'm gonna give you guys like two more rolls and then I'm moving on. Well, in that case.

I mean, if they're all thing, I mean like. Oh, for God's sake. Why? Did I do this to myself? You knew it would devolve. Oh. You've been there for the like, night vaults or the session.

I've monetized rollies is what I've done. You've seen the McDonald's or something. I've monetized rollies. Two more. I'm stopping. Two more. All right, Daisy stops. You had a string of bad luck, did you?

Yeah. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. All right, close up. Although when I was playing without doing that, I got a fricking jackpot. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please. What would a jackpot be? No, that's terrible.

Absolutely. Oh no. Wait, one more. No. I have myself one more. So it better be it. I'm smashing this with Peter Peters. I don't think you can do that. You may get kicked out. No got myself one more. So it better be it. I'm smashing this machine to pieces. I don't think you can do that.

You may get kicked out. No, it's nothing. This machine's busted. I just rolled all of those with a D10. You're funny. Wait a minute, there's additional symbols on this machine. But you didn't win anything. I didn't, I intended.

Technically I suppose there's no harm in you, if you never rolled a nine or a 10 in this map. In 10 rolls I got 10 tokens. Nice, there you go, 10 gold for 10 tokens. I think Cranondale is my game. As you guys are, as everyone is enjoying their lovely time in the Lavender Gardens playing their little games, pulling their coins,

we sweep back to the beach of Wavemeat, and a sort of wooden shack building that has been built against the wall, the sea wall far away from the beach. And it's becoming more boisterous as the sun is beginning to dip and set, casting all of wave meat into this amber pink light that spills and the sea begins to glitter

as the sun cascades and it catches the light. Walking along the beach, before we even get to Gruff and everyone else, we see a figure tying off a kind of ram, not ramshackle, but very worn boat at the docks, kind of pulling in, tying it off, very comfortably speaking to the people that work there as they help them bring it in and lock the boat down. You hear heavy clanks of metal as this very bulky, quite bulbous figure makes their way silhouetted by the sun down the beach. As Gruff,

you have been sat in Branick's bar bar. Sort of, has Gruff been drinking or just enjoying a bit of calm? This has probably been a good couple of hours you've been waiting here, as the sun's now beginning to set. He's been smoking his pipe. He's probably been, I don't know, I guess checking his gear,

maybe retying a piece of rope for a reason, I don't know. Snacks, snacks will feature heavily in this. Maybe he's had a little time on the surf, you know, doing a bit more kite surfing, enjoying the water. And yeah, just enjoying the absence of bickering and strange obsessions and random tangents of thought. It's been a bit of quiet time for Dad, you know.

Maybe the wooden floor beneath you is like, you know, not stained, but like it's obviously been dripping as you've come out to sea. As many of the people that come swimming in, they come to the bar, there's like kind of salt encrusted on the boards and things like that, as you sort of combed your fur down and everything else. You see that this place has gotten livelier.

There's not necessarily a party atmosphere, but quite a few young tourists are here. They're drinking loudly. You do hear this kind of ding ding ding ding ding bell as some young, boisterous orc is in this fighting ring. And you see Branick is is like, bro sure bro and like kind of gets like some of his assistant staff to take over, takes off his shirt, climbs into the ring and they enjoy this like boxing match basically

but it's more like an MMA fight really as they just go to town on each other kind of thrown up against the ring. This Brannock is definitely a very very skilled fighter. But you see he almost moves like he's drunk and he drinks as he's fighting. And this Orc goes to throw a punch. And you think for a second, like Brannock just luckily managed to like woo and his drunken stagger

get out the way. But then he definitely just puts a hand on the Orc's back and shoves him into a wooden post, like crunches his nose, snaps and blood streams down. He turns around, tries to elbow Brannock in the face, but again, he just sort of drunkenly, like he almost looks like he drops his tankard, so he bows to pick it up,

and then as he comes up, his horns catch the orc in the chest and throw him backwards, as it's quite a spectacle of a fight, and the crowd are just loving it, like really going to it. But even then, as the fight diminishes and the crowd are just loving it, like really going to it. But even then as the fight diminishes and the loud cheering is going on, you hear somebody kind of call out from the crowd like, he's here!

As they point towards the door entrance and this kind of song, this kind of sea shanty begins kind of picking up as this kind of thumping noise begins to build up of like, oh the barnacle night, oh the Barnacle Knight, and they just begin singing this sea shanty song. As you turn around, Gruffd, you see this figure filling the door, they look enormous at first,

almost bulbous in their shape, like big round belly, big rounded shoulders, and then as they step into the light and you see them more detailed, you actually see it's a very unusual suit of plait armor, almost done up like an old diving suit. But it's not a diving suit, it's in the style of, and there's like cargo netting with like scabbards and things like that, and old leather belts,

and you can see like a big pair of like sturdy seafarers boots and things like that. An enormous harpoon on like a rope cord around his back and a heavy looking crossbow with sort of a sealed bolt case almost that can be locked and loaded in as Sir Joran Harper, the Barnacle Knight enters. He's an older man, probably in his 60s, graying hair. And you see that as he steps in, people come up to him probably in his 60s, graying hair.

And you see that as he steps in, people come up to him like, oh Joren's shaking his hand. Branagh kind of like gives him a salute and he begins taking his armor off, like putting it down clearly on a seat at the bar, which is his, and he begins taking his armor off. And underneath, you would recognize the build of a very old sailor.

Like, he's athletic, but it's ropey. Like, he's ropey muscles. Like, this isn't thick and burly, like the skin is taut and wrinkled, but there's still a power under there. Graying hair, but you see that almost one entire side of his face is just a mess of scars. Like, crisscrossed,

like some sort of horrid sea beast has just ripped it with claws and teeth or something. It's completely rendered that eye unusable, and it's just this, it's quite scary really, like this terrible rip across his face. But he seems to be in good cheer, and although his mouth kind of curves down where it's been scarred, he still seems to have quite good movement with it. Quickly a big frothing mug of ale is put into

his hand as he begins to kind of sip it and sort of wearily endures the attention that he's kind of being given. And so yeah, he takes a seat. And there's no mistaking this guy. Like you see this man, you're like, that is. And you see that he has the symbol of the loyal hounds on like a jacket. It's like a kind of like leather jacket that he has under his armor, kind of like a gambeson. And it's kind of stitched into the collar.

And maybe on the back as well, it has like a larger version of the symbol. But you can see like tattoos all up his arms, like sailors tattoos of some sort of whale, like an almost like an armored whale with a giant narwhal horn, but it's massive. And like there's like coiling around his arm and there's like mermaids, like lusty big chested mermaids

and you know, seaweed and like, you know, all sorts of like sea paraphernalia, you know, great shells and things like that, all covering his arms as he begins to sip, grump, kind of grunting. And I'd say that Gruff would also notice, because you have quite a high wisdom, like passive insight and perception, as he sits down, and I think being an older gentleman

yourself, like, you see he's like, like gripping his knee and he's like massaging it, like almost like digging one of his knuckles into the joint and like pressuring it, like it's as if it's like hurting him and he's trying to work the muscle and he's like craning his neck as if it's like, you know, giving him grief. And like all of his movements is quite slow and there's a grimace to most of his movements.

And you see that as he drinks the beer, he takes like a little vial of something and pours it into the drink and sips on that as he begins to make his way. I'd probably wait for the, I guess the first wave of people to kind of go up to him and leave him alone for a minute and probably wait until there's a beat. A lull.

Yeah, before I go and approach. Yeah, sure. Erm... Hello there, sorry, I don't mean to disturb you. If this is not a good time, I can go away and come back again. Mmm. There's rarely a... Nolan bastard.

There's rarely a good time to interrupt a man when he's drinking. Well, perhaps I can make a tweet about buying you a drink. That would be much appreciated, stranger. Aye, aye, never turn down a free beer. I'll order it from Branagh. Yeah, just like, yeah, nod, no problem. Like, happily does that. Hello, my name is Gruff, and I'm from Tremoro.

He kind of turns when you say the name. He kind of turns around to talk about anything. So you're Gruff of Tremoro. And he kind of turns when you say the name. He kind of turns around to talk to you. So you're Gruffydd of Tremoro? Oh, you heard of me then? Yeah, Sonora Kell wrote to me, sent me a message about you coming. Oh, well that makes the next bit a bit easier then. Said that you might go to Kelskares,

but you might come here. But, well, nice to meet you. Good to meet you too. Yes, I mean, I suppose if we get right down to business, straight away, I've been sent here by Sir Norricale for, I guess, the next quest on my journey to become a knight. Oh, well, why are you here, Gruffydd of Tremor? Take a seat, let's have a drink together. Do you drink beer? Oh, I? Kind of nods and brannock gets one for you as well. I'm like, take a seat, let's have a drink together. Do you drink beer? Oh, I do.

Kind of nods and brannock gets one for you as well. And I'll say, well, tell me about yourself, Gruffydd of Treymorrow. Oh, there's not much to say. I'm from a little place called Treymorrow. It's just a very small fishing village up in the north. Been there my whole life. You a fisherman?

Aye, yes I am. I fish with cormorants, not cormorants, not in this world. Ice diver. Ice divers. And that'll summon Seren to come and sit on my shoulder. Probably not fly around, but just like... Manifest on the shoulder kind of thing. This is one of them.

She's got a sister, Correra, but I haven't figured out how to summon her yet. So you're some sort of, you do magic, wizard sort of thing. Uh, druid. It's sort of new to me to be, I mean, I feel like I've always had a connection to the land, but it's only really since leaving Iceheart that this connection seems to be growing stronger.

Since you set out on your nightly quest. Yes, well, I had to wait until I could... There was a good time for me to leave, and I'd always heard of the loyalowns, and, you know, from travellers, and their values suited me, and obviously, given that I'm a bit more advanced in my years, it just... I thought this was the best order to join.

Well, you say you had to wait. What changed? Oh, it just... It takes a lot for a man to leave a laugh behind like that. Something must have done. Something must have changed in your life to give you the opportunity to travel across the Empire, seek out some foolish knight's quest. Well, it was always my dream growing up. I heard the ballad of Sir Isabelle when I was a cub.

Anytime we had travellers come in, I'd ask, do you have any stories about any nights? It always made those hard days on the ocean a lot easier. Aye, I can imagine, but forgive me. By your age, a man like you gives up on such dreams, unless something changes in his life, unless there's something that encourages him to set out. Most folk would just stick to the life they know.

Well, it was... really, it was duty. Duty to my village, duty to my wife, duty to my family. And recently, I wasn't needed so much for those duties, and my wife encouraged me to go. Sounds like a fine woman. Oh, she is. Beautiful she is. She's always been supportive of me,

and she said, now is the time to go. Does she... ..understand that you might die in this pursuit? That many knights, glorious as their stories may be, many knights lose their lives fighting terrors from the vaults or dealing with bandits and pirates or otherworldly horrors. She knows that right? Well, with respect she married a fisherman and the sea is not very forgiving so there

was always a risk every time, every morning I went out before the sun rose, every time I was out in a storm. We live with that risk. Good, good. It's good to know. It's nothing more heartbreaking than having to send word to a fellow Knight's family that they've passed on. At least with this one I can know that doing so comes with a... If the worst were to befall you, I don't have to tell some poor heartbroken woman and see her distraught in tears and everything else. At least there's some expectation of what is to come. Of course we hope that that doesn't happen, but this is the way of things, isn't it?

Alright, well, if it truly be your desire to become a Knight of the Loyal Hounds, I'm happy to put you to the test, put you to work. That's what it's all about. It's definitely something. Now I should tell you I'm not going to put you on some vague mysterious mission like Kel does. With me it's going to be straightforward. No messing about. As a job needs doing we're going to do it. Okay. Alright. Well let's finish these first. Clank the beer with you.

Just on a tangent there. Just notice you seem a bit sore or anything. Is there anything I can do to help? I have learned some healing magics. Oh no, it's very kind of you, Gruffydd, but no, I've had healing magic. It's just age. Joints, my bones, there's only so much magic can do. Can't counteract aging.

But the Circle of Loyal Hounds, there's many mages and herbalists and things amongst their number, and they've taught me ways to deal with it. Herbal medicine I can add and drink and helps a lot with the joints, but, and a little bit of magic of my own, prayers and that sort of thing to Pyrus and Melia,

who, you know, give me strength when I need it, but the pain will never go away. It's, I deal with it every day, and some days it's worse than others, and, you know, when I need it, but the pain will never go away. It's, I deal with it every day, and some days it's worse than others, and you know, when I go out and fight, or when I'm out sailing, you know, you just have to power through it. That's part of what gives me a bit of strength now and then,

just to persevere. But no, unfortunately, I've tried everything. Magic, potions, rituals, nothing will work. It's just, the body can only take so much after so much time. And you can see as well, this is a man covered in scars. Even glancing at his neck where he's been rubbing, it's like a deep bite mark, like a shark has bitten in.

And it's probably ruined nerves and joints, and just the way he moves. Like, it's probably that there's basically like a form of arthritis or like, you know, kind of like, you know, joint pain and just age has really caught up with him. Despite he's kept himself physically fit, he can't escape the fact that you imagine looking at him, every movement is quite painful for him,

but he just perseveres, he just pushes through it to carry on. But yeah, he'll just say, that's kind of you, but nothing much can be done now. But still... There's still always work to be done. As one of the more... It's rare in the circle of loyal hounds to have physically active nights like you and I.

So there's a lot of work for us when we find it. There's only a few of us that can tackle beasties and monsters and horrors out there, so it's our duty to shoulder that burden. I'm going to be putting you to work in that. You're a fine-bodied man, so you've got to be prepared for this. These types of missions, these types of requests, it's folks like you and me, we're the ones in the order that have to deal with it, so. Understood.

Is it something that I should undertake myself, or is it something that I'm traveling with a group of other adventurers, so I don't know if it's... We'll get to that, but you'll be welcome to bring people along, but I should tell you, and I'm happy to accompany you myself, but you will be taking the lead. That's part of it.

Think of it as more of a, less of a test, more of an evaluation. Oh, right, okay. Evaluation. I never really did very good at school. Well, this is the school of, think of this less as lessons in a classroom and more lessons of life.

Oh, I'm better at that, I think. So you'll be taking the lead. I want you to make the decisions, plan out how we do it, what's done, give people orders, that sort of thing. And if you wish to bring companions, that's up to you. But that means you also accept the responsibility there. If anything happens to them, that's on you. It's your responsibility.

I mean, that's been the last several months of my life. Sounds like you'll be perfect for it then, Gruffydd. I'll slap you on the back. What happens if the companions don't really listen and get easily distracted by things? Well, consider the tenets of our order. It's our responsibility to pass wisdom down onto those around us. I do try, but they don't really listen unless it's in the form of a dead toad.

Mmm. Well, I'll leave that for you to figure out. How we get the... I'm less concerned with how we get the job done and making sure the job gets done, but I do want to see how you lead. That's important. You're not one of the eldest members, so if we get new recruits, it'll be up to you to lead them if need be. All right. You know, many of our members are too old to leave their manners

or their laboratories, their research places. You know, many of them are more thinkers than they are doers. So they rely on people like you and me to lead them when there is cause to rally us together. I need to make sure that you're capable of that responsibility. I'd like to think I am. Good. Then you'll do fine. And I take it he looks like the staff and the armour, he's like,

you're used to battle. You've fought beasties and monsters and horrors before. Oh yes, we've erm... Good. I've just come from a vault. Ah, then you'll be perfect. Then you'll not have anything to worry about. But yes, but with that we will cut to break and we will come back to this when we get back. So many opportunities to hard cut to us, just.

I'm so close to getting a hat. Just like no gold left, just like outside. I've lost it all. Please sir, just one gold. Oh, shit. Just've lost it all. Please sir, just one gold, one is one. Oh, shit! Snacks! Snacks! Yeah, yeah. I like to imagine that in the movie of Ol' Fair,

as they're having that conversation, there is cutaways, silent cutaways, to just like Rowan feverishly putting money into these machines. What, you're shopping me? Yeah, Daisy just like shoveling food into her mouth from like a free snack bar. It's free, it's free! I've never been more distracted in my life. Yeah, Daisy just like shoveling food into her mouth from like a free snack bar. It's free, it's free!

I've never been more distracted in my life. Yeah, because Amethyst is just like running between games like Ophelia, like, oh, like all the pretty people like Ophelia's just like looking at, like, yeah. But with that, we're gonna take a five minute break and we'll back off that for part two. Hell yeah, see you in a bit. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. and we just joined the Pickaxe Network. That's right, we've been covering video game news and reviews for the past 20 years. On everything from Xbox, PC, Switch, and PlayStation. Sony's dead. They're not dead. PC Master Race. Anyway, if you want to hear us, if you want to know more about the show,

and listen to Jon and I argue every week, you can do that on VideoGameOutsiders.com or anywhere podcasts are available.