The Pact

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

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Other than that, please enjoy the show. Let us know what you think on Facebook, iTunes, and again, thank you for your support. Alright. I'm going to go find a homeless person and feed them. Give them a place to sleep. Let's go around the room real quick before I do a little recap. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. I talk a bunch in every episode. And with us is Dan Phelps. I'm Dan. I play Rodswell Joybatom. We got Robert Weezahan. Hey, I'm Rob. I'll be playing Malchus Grimnus Tieflin Warlock. Mr. Thomas Rose. Hi. I'm Yenward Firestomp. That was the raspiest voice.

You haven't talked in days. I know. My voice cracked that felt it. I haven't had a drink of water in years. That was me clearing my third ear, buddy. There you go. That's for you. Mr. Tyler Wilson. Hey, I'm Tyler and I'm playing as Thoril. Ah, Justin Massey. Hey, I'm playing as Jack Ironhide. My God, you got your name right. That's awesome. Yeah. Hey, Mr. Jake White. What's going on? Drake Honis, Jake White. That's me. And I'm back again. Let's do it. I want to get this out of the way now because we never plug your guys' stuff and it always makes me feel bad when I'm listening to the show.

Robert, what else do you do? Tell them where they can find you. You guys can find me on Twitch TV at www.twitch.tv/bandanaRob where I livestream gameplay four times a week. Currently, SimCity and The Sims 3 back and forth there. And then YouTube.com/user/clidesdale4437 where I keep a video blog on my progress losing weight and trying to write five books before I turn 30. By the way, you're looking svelte, sir. Thank you, thank you. 2/31 as of this morning, so down and started at 2/72. Very nice. Pure muscle, right? You know, here's the thing. I made a bicep the other day and I was like, not sure if muscle's getting bigger or fat getting smaller.

You don't watch his stream where he just bench presses his couch like for an hour. It's freaky. Just looking right into the camera. It's intimidating as hell. Like I know he can't do anything to me through the camera, but it's still intimidating. I don't want any part of it. His head's vibrating. Let's have a protein shake and play some video games. Tyler, where can they catch you when you're not doing some D&D? I do a little gaming channel called Minimum Wage Gaming. You can probably just Google it or you can find me at youtube.com/725gaming. It's a gaming channel mostly focused on stuff that maybe didn't sell well, didn't review well, or older.

Maybe just obscure stuff. I actually just got a brand new haul of about five games and two or three of them have never in my life even knew that the games existed. That's awesome. You playing Vampire the Masquerade? No, I haven't even heard of it. It's a terrible game to go back to. I bought it on Steam for five bucks. That is a terrible game to go back to. I love the core of the game. I love decision making and stuff like that. Don't go back and revisit a game with low texture rate. Bender and Hermes is in the game. This is true. You're saying it hasn't aged well, right, Jason?

No, they had this HD patch and the best it does is make text on the big boxy computers in the game readable. It's the best you can do. The rest of it is... It was in 2003. I'm not saying it doesn't have an excuse. I'm just saying that that's... You're saying it's really cool, dude. We also all do podcasts. Me and Justin do wrestling randomness. Most of them are just pro wrestling podcasts. Jake, of course, is from... Someone's calling. Why is someone calling me? Bring him on. I'm actually curious now. What's your name? Hello? Is Brian there? No, wrong number. Wrong number?

Did you say Ryan or Brian? Wait, Brian? Brian, yes. No, no, no. My name is Brian. 776-4040 is your number? The number for our wrestling podcast show, yes. Oh. You're live on the air right now, by the way. You're live. What's that? You're live on the air right now. Yes. I'm live on the air? Yes, yes, sir. I think you have the wrong number. We thought you were calling in as a guest. Do you have a Bronco for sale? Nope. Yes. No, we don't. Wait, what? No, we don't. You have the wrong number, sir. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Why are you such a cock, Justin? There's a lot of people here, and he's asking for Broncos.

Yes, we're all here for the Bronco. That's what we've all showed up for. That's a white one. Winner gets a Bronco. Trying to do a little business, there. I've chased you all here. He wants a white one that he can drive around the LA freeway with. See, when that was a local number, I knew I shouldn't have answered that. Jason, little do you know, Justin does have a Bronco for sale, and you just ruined the sale. Thanks a lot, Jason. Don't do business during showtime. Awesome. That threw me off my game. That was fun. Jake, what podcast are you from? Oh, yes. Jobber Radio.

TWR Network. It is good. Yep. Kind of round table stuff. We talk about this and that. You should check it out sometime, because we are close to awful, but good enough to listen to. We are. By the way, we got some feedback for you from the last show. People like you on the show, but it sounded like you were wearing a wire at a heroin deal. Just relax. I would assume it's probably just first show jitters. I was excited. I've never done anything like D&D or anything like that before, so this was my first time. I was ready to go. I'm still ready to go. I've been thinking about this the whole time.

I'm ready. That's awesome. I'm going to calm down. I'm actually standing up right now. It just sounds like Robin Williams stand up these times. I'm ready to go. Let's go. Dan, you have a podcast as well. Yes. If you go to TWR Network Wednesday nights at 9pm Eastern Time, shooting from the hip, we can also be found on iTunes. We are on right after Jabba Radio, and we talk about some wrestling. So if you like professional wrestling, not amateur wrestling. If you like professional wrestling, check out the website too, TWRNetwork.com. If you like wrestling. If you don't, stay far away.

Yeah, then there's no point, because that's pretty much where we're all from, except for Rob. Tom, do you want to plug TNT? Sure. Thursday nights at 10pm Eastern Time. TNT Wrestling Power Hour. We talk about NXT. It's a developmental for WWE. And if you know what that is, then you're probably going to maybe check it out. Otherwise, don't want to. And we're not on iTunes. You were? And then... It all happened when we changed the name. As soon as we changed the name, it's like, nope. You can't do it anymore. You went into Witness Protection or something. Like, the feed didn't change.

The show changed. Sorry. Yeah, that's... You can listen to us live. Every Thursday. And only live. TWRNetwork.com. Alright, let's play some D&D. Last time, you guys left the small village where Brie and her father, Martin, lived. And you set off on the road for adventure. You encountered a caravan with two slaves heading into Overdale. And you promptly murdered everyone. And chased off Liora the Vampire Hunter, who was also being escorted, but as a guest, to Overdale. Then the Winterhaven Riders rode in, decapitated the last living card, and escorted you all to Winterhaven to solve a problem with minotaurs and a cult.

You dispatched the minotaurs after a lengthy debate about what your plan actually was. That was rough. And that pretty much brings us up to date right now. You guys are still standing in the clearing. Six hours later. Next to Talrass's dead body and a horde of his cultists. We've been standing here for almost two weeks. Just what happens when the party gets too big, we start layering on the bureaucracy and decisions start to take forever. That's what happened. Yeah, you guys love to argue about decision making. If I gave you the option for a color, like you guys would argue about it for two hours, I'm pretty sure.

Yellow. Blue. I think, yeah, I think blue is gonna be the, no matter what, that's gonna be the color for now on. Green. Blue. I want it to be blue, just for the memories. I like that. By the way, we're recording us on St. Patrick's Day, so if you hear noises, that's people next door totally plastered. It's just because it's a day. Well, it's because it's a day, but today they kinda have an excuse, so it's not like they gotta go to work tomorrow. Ah! There's a fighter where I am, but I think that's because about three days ago there were cops at our apartment, and I'm pretty sure it's either the people next to us or the people below us were getting arrested.

Oh, nice. I'd say the people below us, because I think they're the ones who have more than just, say, alcohol. Meth lab. Like it. [Laughter] I have Renner's insurance, though. So you guys are standing in this clearing. Yeah. You have one of two options, because you hear hoof beats. Oh shit, we gotta get out of here! Fuck yeah! So that would be the rest of the minotaurs that were in this cult. Now, you have one or two options here. And that is, if you would like to flee, you can probably beat them to the punch and get back to Winterhaven, or at least on the road to Winterhaven before they know you were here.

They're gonna see the bodies, so they're gonna know something's up, but once they see their leader dead, they're probably gonna disperse. There's no one leading the charge, there's no one, you know. Or, that's the other option, is you guys can stay here and kinda take your chances and talk to them and see where things go. First off, I wanna apologize for clearing my throat. I thought I was muted. I apologize. Oh, that's okay. You're kinda grossed out by her. Yeah. Y-Yenward, what's the cultural, like, because we killed their leader, what's minotaur culture say about that?

Are we gonna be murdered, or are we gonna be... I assume I'm gonna be a god king. Well, as we've discussed, minotaurs, they're prideful creatures, but not necessarily honor-bound, so just because they're not follow- this guy earned their trust somehow, whether through brute strength or threats or the promises of wealth and power, he's earned their respect enough to follow him. He might just be the biggest male there, and it's like, "Okay, alpha male," type of thing, they're gonna follow him. That doesn't mean they're gonna follow Yenward. But we could possibly have an army of minotaurs.

You could, yes, you could either possibly have a- Can you imagine an army of minotaurs and an army of Michael Westons? We would be unstoppable. What about an army of Michael Westons riding an army of minotaurs? I got something to say. Is the height of 7'11", is that high for a minotaur, is that like- The average is anywhere between about 7.5 and 8.5 feet. Alright, so he's a little bit bigger than usual. Yenward's about average height. Oh, I thought you said to 7'8". 7.5 to 8.5, so right around there. Okay, okay, sorry, sorry. We could sell it as he was the one that took down the leader, then we can get an army out of this.

I'm not thinking they're gonna buy it. I don't know how vengeful minotaurs are, and also they're not just minotaurs, they're cultist minotaurs. And I don't know if I want to risk. That's the other thing, is that they are cultists. They came here for a purpose. Yeah, they're gonna expect you to be all up on Baphomet. Which is the way to pronounce that, by the way. I kept pronouncing it "Buh-fah-met", which sounded terrible. Then I heard Wilder's like, "No, that sounds much more dignified." I was saying it like "vah-met", like that's terrible. "Vah-fah-met".

Yeah, that sounds like a liquid belch. At that point you start getting close to pronouncing it like Bahamut, which is the lawful good king of dragons. You don't want to confuse the two. Man, that's a party faux pas, if I ever heard of it. My concern here would be, we took out this guy, but our job was to make sure that the minotaurs don't attack Winterhavens. And if we leave an army of minotaurs behind, I'm worried that they're going to go. You're leaving a large chunk of minotaurs behind. They're really no longer an army without a leader. Yeah, but it's still cultists.

They still have that... The idea of... They still have that nasty cult idea of like, "These people need to die because this is our birthright, this land." Right. We should set it up to make it look... Can we hide the bodies? I say we just chop the motherfucker's head off, put it on a pike, and warn them, "This is gonna happen." We've tried that. That doesn't work. Oh, you're trying to ask him to look like an asshole? Wait, are you referring to the Black Hand? Because if you count giving someone a warning, then giving them no time to respond and murdering them anyway, that's not exactly...

I would think that the move here would be... Because minotaurs, they're not gonna look at that and be scared. They're gonna look at that and think it's a threat. And they're gonna fucking wanna fight. Look at Challenge. Yeah. These are minotaurs. These aren't, you know, townspeople. Well, they're not savage beasts. They're... I mean, it's like the stereotype with orcs. Like, they're... Yeah, they're prideful and yeah, they like to fight and everything, but that doesn't mean they're bloodthirsty, nightmarish savages. Right, I understand that. But as a prideful creature, if we take their leader's head and put on a stake in the middle of their holy ground, I think they might take that as a...

Oh, yeah, I'm not saying that's the way to go. What I'm saying is, I'm giving you options. I'm just like, anything you guys wanna do is what you wanna do. What I'm saying is, this guy was the brother of their... the leader of their clan. So right off the bat, he's up there. And then he starts preaching and whipping them up and is like, "Hey, we can have a lot more land if we do this and, you know, I'll lead you to it." And that kind of thing. So that's where that was. It's not like any old minotaur can just pick up a stake or, you know, an axe or something and be like, "Okay, I'm leading stuff now." It's not like that.

Okay, yeah, actually, after hearing that, I think we should go. Yeah. Yeah, that's something we've gotta do. If they look at it as five, six assholes just came in here, or what they could... it could be like, "Holy shit, we misunderstood." Maybe they have a bigger force than they actually... than we thought they... See, here's my thing. Here's what I'm gonna say. I am foregoing, but it just seems like we're leaving something untouched here in the sense of I'm afraid that they will then go after Winterhaven still. And our job was to make sure they don't go after Winterhaven.

So I'm not saying we fight, but part of me is wondering if diplomacy might be an option here. How does it feel to be Justin? You're the guy arguing to stay and resolve the plot thread. That's interesting. Well, I don't... No, I'm not saying you're after... you just said you weren't after the violence of it, but I get what you're saying. It's just weird. I'm just trying to express... I'm trying to play devil's advocate here. Like, you know, try to cover all loose ends, because we haven't been good about doing that so far. We just want to see more blood. Savage.

I want to hear your take on that. I'm not saying that's the way I want to go. I just want to hear what people think about that. What if we head back to Winterhaven and just stay for a few days to make sure they've dispersed? That would work. Let's go home, get comfortable, and watch the horizon. What are we going to do with the body? Well, we'll leave it here to send them a message that... Bite his hands off and paint them black. Send it to Overdale. He's got black paint. Let's get out some parchment and a quill, write a quick note that says "He tripped" and then leave.

He tripped. He wrote this with his dying breath. Goodbye, cruel world. Oh, well, uh, Tyler, I mean, Thoril, do you need to feed or anything before we go? Well, there's a dead minotaur here, so I could probably do that real quick. Do you like beef? Do you... can you... I got an idea. Okay, we all hide except for Yendell. He'll be right there, right next to the body. And he said, like, "I did this," and, you know, and... But it still sounded like they wouldn't take too kindly to them. Possibly not, but maybe the pack mentality, maybe they'll go for, like, "Okay, well, a new leader, he's obviously, you know, huh?" It's time to go away.

Just disperse, go away. That's totally cool, you guys can do that. I will remind you, this will be a larger pack than the last time because you bypassed a large portion of their army. Yes. Yeah, and Yandere's not the most charismatic minotaur out there. But he is a minotaur. Somebody can feed him wines. Oh, a cereal diverser. He's a Somebody's... right when he says "green," we all jump out. I'm with... I'm... I like the idea of heading back and keeping posts for a little while and making sure no shit goes down. Yes, that's my move. Yeah, alright. Wait a second.

Yenworth, what's your bluff at? I think we've all decided to leave. Justin hasn't. I just remembered that Draconis can transform into, like, like... I just remember the last time we played this, that his roles kept getting worse and worse, and then I had to slam a minotaur just to... Wait a second. Wait a second. Are you trying to make me be the guy? Yeah! What if we turned Draconis into... That's what I've been trying to say, man. His +5. Plus 5. Plus 5, yeah. I don't know if that's high or not. I assume it's low. I'm not sure. I asked... I asked... I think a safer bet would be to run.

But wait. His bluff is only 5, but any of us that have a high bluff could pull this off, because all we need to do is say that they made a truce with Winterhaven. And that we haven't won. So you're saying he would look like Tellruss? Yeah. Alright, you guys. My bluff is 15, so I'm probably highest. So if we have him turn into Tellruss, and then have Malchus do a speech about how they've made peace with Winterhaven and no longer attack Winterhaven, we could kill two birds with one stone here. And he's got a +15 buff on that, which is pretty good. Okay, but then when they do find out...

Oh wait. This... Where's our leader at? Oh, oh, it's at the top. This... Where's our leader at? Oh, oh, it was just this guy dressed up like... The wizard dressed up like us. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Draconis is gonna be... Yeah. Yeah, the wizard, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, the wizard. But they don't have to find out. They can just... We can just, you know... Malchus can say, "It's disbanded. We've decided," you know. And then everyone just leaves. And then he says, "I gotta go back to my home planet," and they'll never see him again, and they'll never think anything of that.

That is one problem. We're not... I can't very well go back with them. Yeah. I'm not going to do a sociological experiment where I embed myself in a colony of minotaurs. By the way, the disguise only lasts an hour. Yeah. But I'm saying, as somebody is dressing up as their leader, saying, "All right, well, we fist-bumped. We're A-OK now with them. Now you'll never see me again," even though I was your leader. That's the only problem I see with them. Yeah, okay. No, I'm in. I get you. We're good. We're good. It was an interesting thing to explore. It absolutely was, and none of us are talkers.

What's Baphomet got up again? He's a demonic god, really. He looks like a minotaur. Like, rage and battle, that kind of thing. Oh, we couldn't have him be the god, could we? All right, you guys. I feel like there's a moat of possibility in what you brought up, but what if we tell them instead to... What if I convince them to assault Overdale, and then I can go with them? Now we're staging a coup on Overdale again. We've still got the hour time limit, don't we? The hour time limit on stuff. Here's an idea. How will we go back to Winterhaven, hang out, see what's going on?

If we need these minotaurs, we know where they are. We can always come back and try to get them fixed after Overdale. You can tell the minotaurs to go attack Overdale, and then at the 59 minute mark, tell them to just go on ahead. I gotta go take a leak. Go on without me. I'll catch up. Yeah, if we want to coerce these minotaurs, they're not going anywhere, I don't think. I think heading back would be best bet. Yeah, let's go. Okay. No, I'm gonna have fun listening back to this a little later on. I always enjoy these. Okay, so you guys head back. They're streaming into the clearing well after you guys have left, but they make a lot of noise on their way.

You guys sneak out, and you have made it back to Winterhaven. You guys had your horses and stuff, so it's not like it took too long. Let me load up the next map. Pah-gow. Whoa. So, they're not bodies. If you zoom in, it's a crowd, but that's how that-- Oh shit. It totally looks like a pile of bodies. It did look like a-- Look how they're stacked. Just a pile of bodies. That's terrible. We haven't seen Winterhaven in a long time. Now I'm on top of these pile of bodies. Bosh pit. King of the Mountain. King of the Mountain. So, upon your return, once everyone sees you approach the gates and they see you're alive, there's just this uproarious cheer.

So, not only have you guys saved their settlement once, but you've done it twice. You've saved Lord Padraig's daughter before you-- This is the second cult in the area that you guys have put a stop to. This one was a lot less effort than the first one, but you guys are a lot stronger now, so it bears to reason. Immediately upon them seeing you carrying the axe of Telros, then they-- it's, "Okay, well that's it." They know you've dealt with the problem one way or the other, and they give you those manly wrist handshakes. Padraig congratulates each and every one of you.

You need to talk about the problem of Overdale. Yeah. So, before the podcast, like this last week, I asked you guys what you wanted to do with that. And one of the options was that you guys could-- Winterhaven can send one of its messenger riders to Overdale and invite the mayor over here for some sort of peace treaty, a sit-down. So, are you guys still cool with that? You want to go for it? Yes. Sure. Wait, they're at war? Or-- No, no, no. I mean, between you-- you guys are wanted fugitives from Overdale. Okay, okay. I guess we should probably roleplay to that point, though, right?

We shouldn't just say, "And it happened." No, no, no. I mean, that's-- there's-- I mean, we still got-- there's this knighting ceremony they have set up for you, and each one of you-- I mean, some of you have been knighted here before, but the ceremony kind of got destroyed, so, I mean, this is like a huge gathering for you guys. So, there's a stage set up, and-- so this would be later that day, because-- and if you remember, Ironhide asked for a favor. Yes. Yes, sexual favor. To be determined. So, I don't like that. What would you guys like to tackle first?

What would-- I mean, would you guys like to talk about Overdale first? Justin, do you wanna-- I mean, how do you wanna do this favor thing? Do you wanna just leave that kind of hanging? I kinda wanna invite that guy over here and then stick him in the ribs. Like a prison shank. Just right inside of him. I suppose, in a sense, death is the ultimate peace. We have peace because I stuck you, and now, you know, we're not gonna fight anymore. Oh, he's dead. I guess we can try to get an audience with him, as long as Thor awaits somewhere else so he doesn't try to suck his blood.

That's probably a good move, yeah. I'll just go sit in the shade. The goal here is to get them to stop pursuing us/excuse us/what? Kill him. It's, I think, on top of that, Justin-- I'm sorry, Jarek, should probably voice his concerns about the whole issue, too. Like, while we have an audience, it might do, you know. While I feel this will start out diplomatic, I don't have very-- I don't have a lot of faith that it's gonna end that way. Alright, remember, when we were attacked by a witch hunter, or a vampire hunter, there was two slaves being brought to Overdale.

For questioning. They were being brought in for questioning. Alright, alright, they were being brought in for questioning. They weren't asked at first to-- Do you know anything about these people? No, they were captured, and they were brought back. Well, here, you know, honestly, what I'd be worried more about is the fact that they were bringing a vampire hunter to them. Which sounds to me like they're amassing force. Yeah, they-- Yeah, like they're-- A special force that would take us out. A task force. Like an Avengers, you could say. And-- Just like-- Yeah, and they're coming-- and, um-- It's like they're fighting injustice.

Yeah. It's almost like they're a shield. Are we the bad guys? I'm really confused now. It's kind of a gray area. It depends. You did try to murder the mayor. You did murder a shitload of people in their town, and you-- We did defend the town from terrible, terrible atrocities. The-- He also wants to kill a girl. That's the thing, though. Them bringing in Leora is kind of-- I mean, that's kind of a gray area, too. You could look at it as they're amassing a force, or maybe it's defensive. Once you have a vampire lunge for your throat, I mean, maybe you'd want a vampire hunter protecting you.

We need to talk. It's just we need to talk. Yeah, so, I mean, it might be-- it might be something where you guys-- I mean, one of three things are gonna happen. Either it's-- it's incredibly diplomatic, and you smooth over things for Overdale, and that'll be done. Uh, nothing gets solved, and you guys both go your separate ways, or this will be the largest scale fight we've ever done on this show. Can-- can we have a-- can we have a vote real quick as to what will most likely happen? That depends. 'Cause I have a vote. No, we'll just-- we'll-- we'll let it-- we'll see what happens.

My vote says that that giant-ass axe will be used at some point. For peace. For breaking watermelons for the children. Can we hide behind this crowd of people? Well, instead of just-- You call the peace banker. Where are you? The decision's been made to do it, so instead of, like, trying to figure out the outcome, um, why don't we plan on who is-- 'cause I'm looking at stats right now, and I think Malkus should be the talker here. Oh, God, yeah. He's got the highest diplomacy, um, he's, you know, he's the most charismatic, like, I think-- I think that's our guy.

Am I-- am I still the most diplomatic after penalties for Overdale's horrible racism against tieflings? Like, I mean, are they going to be so dismissive of me based on my species that it's not worth it? Well, you could be the Martin Luther King Jr. of this game. If that's true, I have a plus seven. I mean, you have a plus eight, so-- Well, here's the thing. You guys are having the meeting in Winterhaven, so it's gonna be a situation where you are on home turf, they're visiting. You guys are both speaking to each other for them to show such, you know, traumatic disrespect as to just-- it's like, "Eh, no one's talking to you, ready?" And they-- it's like, "Oh, wow, that's-- that's racist." You know, they-- like, this is some-- they don't have public opinion on their side in this city.

Well, his question, though, is that will he even be listened to by the people from Overdale? Like, is it going to count against him that he's a tiefling? Well-- Oh, it absolutely will. Right now, like, the people in here look at us like heroes for a second time because we came in and helped them out. Right. Practically free of charge. But all these people aren't going to be around the table when we're talking to-- No, no, no, but they are walking-- let's say-- let's say a fight broke out, right? It does-- it does the delegates of Overdale no good for them to walk in and a fight breaks out because that only looked-- that only makes them look more villainous.

Attackers. I guess-- I don't think Rob's concerned about fighting. I think Rob's just concerned about if his plus-eight diplomacy is going to mean shit because of the fact that they're so racist against him. Stats are stats, dude. Like, your-- your ability to argue is your ability to argue. I mean, everyone's-- see, here's the thing about debates. Everyone walks in with their opinion, and people rarely shift opinions, but it's your-- it's your ability to come to some sort of, uh, you know, middle ground. Okay, so the numbers are all that matters here. Right.

Okay. Okay. The other question becomes, are we just asking them to stop pursuing us and leave us alone, or are we asking them to stop their slaver practices entirely? That's up to you guys. Um, I would say that if A goes well, then we can pursue B. Later. Okay. And further-- and then furthermore, if we are-- if we are crossing that bridge, what sort of leverage do we have-- and leverage can be an honest thing, too, but what sort of leverage, if any, do we have to get them to stop that? Like, trade sanctions, you know, do they need Winterhaven more than Winterhaven needs them?

Actually, I'll make sure to ask the mayor of Winterhaven that. The people in Nysterdair. Okay, okay. Here's the thing. I-- we-- I am under the impression that we have to deal with Overdale. That even if we get them off our back, that they will still be a growing force that at some point we're going to have to deal with. It is either A, we do it now, or B, we wait for them to get bigger and do it then. Because, you know, it-- like I said, even if we get them off our back now, or even if we get them off our back, period, if we are still upset about the way they do business and the way that they, you know, how racist and stuff they are, then that's going to be something we're going to have to come back to, and when we come back to it, it may be a bigger force.

And that's why I was in for going after it now anyway. That's why I didn't want to do that book. Yeah, like that's-- 'Cause the viewer just got stronger. That-- and that's what-- that's what got my opinion turned the other way too. Is that if we go off and do this book, and we come back a year later, and they've taken over the region, you know, I mean, like-- 'cause from what I understand, Overdale is a fighting town, correct? You would say, yeah. Well, that's-- it's mostly a large communal city. They-- I mean, they don't-- It's a grouping of small towns.

Yeah, they don't have an army to speak of. That's-- I mean, there really hasn't been a lot to fight over except for self-defense in this region for a very long time. There's been no kingdom. Until we got there. Well, you guys kind of were the catalyst to spark a lot of things, for better or worse. Like, you take a look at Winterhaven. Before you guys got there, it was this-- this-- almost just a small fort. I mean, as forts go, it's really big, but it's still kind of a fort. It's not like a major city like Overdale is, and, you know, after you guys have left, they've become more militant, but it's much more for self-defense.

So that's a good thing. Overdale, on the other hand, looks at-- I mean, they lost their captain of the guard, and then they kind of got lackadaisical with their-- they just had guards that would break up, you know, bar fights and things like that. Stuff-- inner city stuff. Don't murder each other, that kind of stuff. And then, you guys kind of bucked all that by going on a kill-crazy rampage through town, and-- I mean, for good or worse. I mean, it's viewed as-- I mean, like, if there was a real-- The way they would use it. If there was a real Batman, there would still be-- it's like, "Oh, I think he's great.

I think he sucks." There'd be that, you know-- Well, here-- here's-- here's how I look at it. If-- even if, let's say we go here, we do this whole thing, and we're like, "Okay, uh, let's-- let us free. Don't come after us anymore. We won't bug you. You don't bug us." Um, at that point, the sheer fact that Winterhaven is protecting us-- 'cause we're out of here. Like, we're not hanging around. After this is done, we're gone. And the fact that Winterhaven is protecting us could get them into a lot of shit after we leave. So, I think if we go in, we need to get the job done.

We need to do it all. We can't just try to protect us at this point. Because Winterhaven-- 'cause, like you said, Overdale is much bigger than Winterhaven. They are. And-- and I don't wanna cause war. There hasn't-- you know, if-- like, if something's gonna happen, it's better that it happens with us here. True. Than if we left them alone. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I agree. So, uh, I think that we need-- like I said, if A goes well, and if they agree to set it to, you know, not pursuing us anymore, we need to make sure somehow that they-- the-- the, you know, tyranny or whatever you wanna call it, ends.

Because-- it-- for-- stepping out of my character a second, um, because if we're gonna leave this part behind us, then we need to actually get it behind us and not just, you know, set it aside for the time being. So. Do we-- do we need to accumulate more proof of some kind that Overdale has aggressive intent toward, um, toward Winterhaven? Jaconis is a slave. What's up? Wasn't Jaconis a slave? He saw it. Yep. Oh, yeah. Yeah, what did, uh-- His girlfriend, wife, or whatnot. Yep. This is my lady. Right, but-- but-- But slaving and having aggressive intent toward Winterhaven are two different things, like-- I gotcha.

My fear is that-- my fear is that once they understand that we are being protected by Winterhaven, they will have aggressive intent toward Winterhaven. Yes. Gotcha. Does that make sense? Well, but, uh, then-- then I guess-- then I guess the practical problem is how do we tell them, "No, no, don't do that," and then walk off toward the Northlands? Like, I mean-- That's why we need to take care of everything now. Because-- Well, basically you're saying you need to fix racism. Well, we need-- well, okay, so Justin-- Justin-- Thorol's-- not Thorol, sorry. Uh, Jarek's whole thing was about injustice and how, you know, leadership and doing all that.

And if we, like-- that sounds like the road we need to go down now. We've-- we've dug-- we've dug this hole. We've gotten this far. We've, you know-- If it's-- if it's truly gonna be a thing that sticks with us forever, then I-- I don't-- I don't know how to take care of it. I just-- it's-- it's-- it's been-- That's the thing is I don't think it ever will. The-- the way this is going right now is they won't stop until one of us are dead. Then why are we doing this at all? We can run if we want to, but the next time we have to go and resupply into town or if there's an emergency and somebody has to get to a town to save their life and Overdale happens to be close, then we have problems.

Right, but I think Rob's on-- Rob has a good point, and it's that, what are we asking from them? Justin, what are we asking? We'll have to get to the meeting first and see. Well, that would probably be a good point. Like, what are-- like, what is the end game here? Well, we're looking for peace right now, and I also-- we need to see exactly how far they want to take it. We had to read them. So basically, are we not resting until we have-- there is a leader in place that we find suitable? I-- I don't know that we have the-- the time and power to make that happen.

That's a pretty big to-do. I'm just-- I mean, that's not, like-- I don't-- let's just murder him. I mean, you, like-- Well, we-- we-- what we need to do is we need to change the hearts of the people. Like, we would need to actually make the people want a new leader badly enough. So what if we ask for an audience with the people of Overdale? Uh... [Laughter] Their ear was close to the mayor, and what he was saying was ill things about us. Well, I'm saying, we-- we first negotiate that we will be safe, and then we negotiate for that. I mean, 'cause it's either that or we just fight.

What-- what mayor is going to-- what mayor is going to give us an audience with his people when he hates us, even if he agrees not to pursue us? I agree. I'm just trying to figure-- I'm just trying to sort my way to what it's made. So what we're essentially looking for with Overdale is kind of being pardoned. Mmm... But the thing is, like I said, if that's-- okay, we've sparked a fire, and if we just leave that fire, that doesn't mean it's going to stop growing. You know? Like, that's the problem, is that we've caused this problem. You know, now they have something to rally behind, and it's racism.

And so if we just-- Sped our own racism. So if-- and-- so then if we-- so if we leave, just taking us out of the equation isn't going to stop the people from, you know, taking in slaves and continuing down that route. Like, it's-- we've sparked this. This is our fault. Okay. I want to go before Winter Haven's mayor and ask him some stuff. Sure. Okay. Okay. His name again is...? Lord Padraig. How much have we told him, by the way, about what we've done in Overdale? What's happened over there? He knows that you left on bad terms, because he found that out when he found out that Duncan died, and when they were sending out search parties for you.

But he doesn't-- like, he obviously doesn't know about your time in Overdale. Like, the tournament of champions thing, that gets circulated really quickly, because that was a huge-- that's like the Olympics there, so that was a big deal. You winning that, you being the first people to win that, you know. We won gold. Yeah, so that's huge. So, yeah, he doesn't know about your whole stay there, everything. Like, yeah, a catch-up would be good. Okay. Lord Padraig, what is... what are your feelings on the town of Overdale? Is Winterhaven afraid of Overdale? He kind of considers it, and he says, "We've never had any reason to fear any city in this area.

We've always been able to trade and coexist with everyone." You know that they are slavers, though, correct? Who... what do you mean? They're slavers? Who... slaving who? Enslaving dragonborn tieflings. Dragging people in and making them fight in their tournaments. We didn't do our homework prior to entering that tournament, and only found out too late that we were slaying sentients. Do you have proof of this? I was there. I had to fight to the death with my own two hands. I doubt there should be question of proof when there was an audience of... thousands.

Were there thousands, Jason? Yes, there was a large, large... picture like Roman Colosseum type stuff. Like, you know, that's the event. Like, that's... oh, people are gonna kill each other today. Awesome. With an audience of thousands, surely there were some from Winterhaven there. I raised my hand. I saw it. You didn't. I'm rolling a bluff, Jack! We don't need lies, we need truth. We all know how well you bluff. Maybe it's not best that... I saw it. This guy knows, right? Can I throw something out there too, real quick? Sure. While this is going on... Ynward has a pretty good streetwise.

I say we also need to find out what the people on the streets think about Overdale too. Get both sides of it. You know, hear what the people think and the... the leader thinks. Okay. Firstly, after you tell him about the thousands sitting in attendance, he backs down. He gets defensive when... when it comes to... between city politics. Because it's kind of a dicey thing. People want to control their own region. He says, "I meant no disrespect, of course. I wasn't... I wasn't calling you a liar or... It's just... it's a tricky situation when you deal with other cities' leaders." Winterhaven is neighbor to Overdale.

I fear that if left unchecked, Overdale could extend their slaving practices as far as... as far as lands controlled by Winterhaven. If people begin getting abducted from the borders, what are we prepared to do? Do we can... do you publicly condemn slaving? We've... we've never condoned slaving here in the north. We've never hosted any such games or tournaments for pleasure. No, we have taken part in them. Just, you know, they've obviously taken part in it because that was in... that's one of the big things to do. But they've never hosted it. It was never a large enough city.

And then he kind of takes a pause and says, "When you say 'Dragonborn,' do you mean this Dragonborn?" And he points at Draconis. You know. Malkus just gestures to Draconis to let him speak for himself. [chewing] And then he eats a lollipop. [laughter] "That's a delicious turkey." He's like, "Well, that speaks for itself." "God dammit, that's sexy!" [laughter] "Let me get in the room. Let me get in the room." "You're... it's fine, don't worry about that." [laughter] "I'm in the room. I assume this is happening in the room. Okay." "Yeah, it doesn't matter.

We're... this portion is just roleplaying." [gulp] So he asks specifically if they took you as a slave or a prisoner. Yes, indeed, I was a slave. Did you commit any crime? If he hesitates that long in character, even Malkus looks over. [laughter] Yes, I did. You committed a crime? I was found guilty of a crime, yes. What crime? What did you do? A murder. Well, that... Wait, I thought it was being... A murderer! Who has... Yeah, I'm inquisitive here. I thought he was being brought in for questioning about us. I'm confused now. Yup. Who did you murder? I assumed it was piracy. [laughter] I, uh...

Who did you murder? It's none of your business. Oh, God. Who did you murder? I don't know. Why the fuck did you say, "Hey, this guy right here, he was... "Oh, he's just a poor slave." He was like, "Yeah, I killed people." Yeah! I was under the impression that Draconis was being brought in because they were rounding up all non-humans. It's time for terrible fucking people. You were. You were on the average. Indeed. This changes stuff. That is not... Yeah! That is not... Draconis, if we are going to travel with you, we need to know what could pursue us trying to find you.

I was accused of killing another Dragonborn. Trusty. Why, uh... Why does Overdale concern itself with that? I don't... Yes. Interesting. (laughter) It's going south, guys. It's going south. Well, I think... It's going very south. Well, I think it's a thing where... I don't know if they're actually concerned with the crime of a Dragonborn slaying another Dragonborn, but the fact that he was Dragonborn. So they were probably just rounding him up. Like, in the Dragonborn community, that's a crime. I mean, it's a crime. Like, in the Dragonborn community, that's a crime.

Absolutely. Right. No. I'm sorry. I was saying what I said on the basis of it sounded like it was in a Dragonborn community outside of Overdale. That Overdale was trying to enforce law on another community outside of itself. Is that not the case? My understanding was that he was... Like, that was something that happened before the Overdale thing. Like, that's why he's not in his Dragonborn community. He was banished after that, is my understanding. Oh, yes, correct. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So it is not... It is like stabbing somebody and they arrest you. So you're not wanted for murder in Overdale, but...

You're over. That was something that you've done. I understand the face. I stabbed him in the face. I'm sorry. I need to clear my throat. Okay. So, but, but, so, okay. Let me, let me get this... So, I'm chiming in to get this straight. So you're saying, you're saying there is a murder in your past, but Overdale has no jurisdiction over it and they were taking you in, they were taking you in on a basis other than that? Well, hell yeah. That's exactly what's going on. Okay. So you're kind of a victim. Let's... Okay. So... Yeah, well, see, yes. Okay. Yes. I'm not even gonna explain myself.

Yes, that is correct. We're gonna have to talk about this later. Yeah, this is definitely a topic of conversation. This is a topic of conversation later. I was planning on something. You just got a whole new dynamic added to this. I was planning on something happening, but this, this completely threw me for a loop. I didn't plan on any of this happening right away, but yes, correct. Correct. Okay. So we'll... Okay, so that's the same time I didn't eat my kids and I never got in trouble for that. Because your kids were toasters. You son of a bitch. You said that.

You told me your kids were toasters. How dare you speak about my kids that way. Yeah, you didn't have the right to call them that. Only I can call them that. Yes. That's our word. Disapart! Your mother was a blunder! Alright. So, once we've gotten this murder thing figured out, and I get the confusion now, it's fine. Good, I hope you do, because I right now confuse as fuck. Well, we asked you point blank if you ever committed a crime, basically. It was like a job application, and you're like, "Well, yeah, but..." I mean, yeah, I understand. Well, good. So, you were taken in as a slave.

You were taken in as a prisoner basically just because you're Dragonborn. That's the excuse they gave you, and that's... How did you, gentlemen, come about finding him? He was being transported. He was being transported to Overdale in the company of a number of guards and a vampire hunter. How did you negotiate the surrender of him? With an axe. Somebody said... Also, we should also point out that they were carrying wanted posters with our pictures on it, and they were also being instructed to round up any non-humans in the area for questioning, not just ones that resembled us.

Because they're assuming you are in league with each other. I would assume so, yes. Okay, so he's kind of sitting in his chair thinking about this, and he says Overdale's never had a huge population of non-humans, but that didn't used to be a problem. Elves and dwarves, they would regularly go to the city to trade, so I don't really understand where all this animosity is coming from. From what I understand also, they apparently held my son in some regard. They didn't seem to have any problem with dwarves. It was actually the creatures that surround me now.

It's more like the ones they look at, presume as savages, like the orcs that we had to fight in the arena. The ones that look different than them. More evil. And Padraig points at Rodswell, he says, "So you're welcome in Overdale." I was, at one point. I was probably the one that he would do business with the most, and I actually saved the mayor in training, or whatever you want to call him. I saved his life from Thorol, however, my protection of Thorol and my defense of my friends here got me banished and wanted it as well. He... You gonna go? After this...

Draconis backs out slowly. He falls right beyond. After hearing that, he asks, "Okay. I feel like there's a lot you're not telling me, and if you want me to negotiate with Overdale, I'm more than happy to do that. We owe you at least that much for saving this city. But you need to tell me if there is anything that they could use against us." Before I came around the city, I was in the city of Overdale, and before I came around, there was apparently a series of misunderstandings that made them believe that this group may have murdered their mayor. The mayor experienced a heart attack while I was discussing something with him.

It was unfortunate. Was this public or private? Public. Very much public. So there were witnesses that would... I mean, that you didn't lay a hand on them, right? Yeah. What about any crimes? Did you commit any crimes within the borders of Overdale? We took out a crime syndicate? With murder? No one was present. No... no... innocence. No sips. We did engage in vigilante acts. We were being attacked, though. It's true. They did come to us. Yes. In our home. And, okay, so... I feel like we're sounding worse and worse as this is going on. We have to be honest, though. We have to be honest.

The problem is that people mostly... Dan sounds like a goddamn lawyer. My client may have... I don't think he was even in the room when the stabbings that occurred were provoked. So, is that all? Is there anything else that they could use against us in a negotiation situation? I desecrated the dead. Just a little. We have unpaid parking tickets. How did you desecrate the dead? We removed some hands from some bodies to send a message. To who? To the Black Hand. That is famous for removing hands and painting black. Why would the Black Hand target you gentlemen?

Because we were unable to complete a job for him that we took before we knew the true extent of his operation. So you gentlemen worked for the Black Hand? We went to go get mushrooms. If it makes you feel better, we never accomplished anything for him. We lost a friend, and then he tried to send people to kill us. Well, I've never known you gentlemen to be anything but upright citizens. And again, we owe you at least this much. So, I'm going to send my fastest rider to Overdale. And I'm going to invite the mayor and what I'm guessing is going to be a large swath of guards if he is that intimidated by you gentlemen.

Here to Winterhaven and we hopefully will negotiate some sort of peace. Alright, and how much does Overdale need Winterhaven or vice versa? Trade wise? Oh, trade wise, okay. They're largely self-sufficient. It'll be specialty items. Like, they're in the north, so I mean, there are certain times of the year where they can't get certain crops or like, they'll have an excess of animal pelts and things like that up north. Whereas down south they may not, like they don't get many bears and things like that. So, I mean, it's nothing that the two regions can't get on their own.

So, nothing that trade sanctions would give us as leverage. Wonderful. Yeah, nothing like that. Oh, well we'll cut off your spice rations, something like that. See, the two areas have a large swath of the, if you imagine this as a map, this would be the western portion. Almost to the coast. So, these guys control basically the west half, north and south. So, there's nothing that the two, it's not like Winterhaven has a much smaller sphere of influence. It's just that Overdale has what would be considered the nicer region. It's much more moderate climate down south.

So, yeah, that's basically what you're looking at. It's nothing trade wise. There is one more thing. Go ahead. During one of the missions, people were disappearing. So, this is you talking to Padraig? Yes. People were disappearing and we investigated and found out there's a nest of vampires underneath the town. After killing them and some of our own people either getting bit, which was how Thoril turned, he suggested that we go to, I think, what was it, the east? This would have been further west into the swamps. Yeah. Went to the swamps and there was somebody there that could have helped us.

Not only did he suggest that we sacrifice a little girl that we found along the way, he came out and told us that we should have. That would have been the smart move. Would this have prevented Thoril's vampirism? Yes. Yes, at the expense of her life. You can see he's kind of adding it up in his head that he might not have made a different decision if he were in the same place. He sacrificed his humanity for a little girl. Right, but I mean, again, there's two ways you can look at it. Vampires are not welcome in society at all. The fact that you guys have found a place where Thoril could be a hero is fucking amazing.

That's not... That's a pretty cool guy. We're supposed to tell him everything we did, right? It's up to you. We also had sex with a bunch of kids. Um, well... That is great. I didn't hear the full story, but what about the guard? Which guard? The captain of the guard? Yeah. He did that on his own. Yeah, he got into... Didn't he get into trouble competing with us or something? He lost a hand. Everything he did, he did on his own. Right, I'm just... This might be something that's brought against us, so we should probably fill him in now. Well, there's never any contact between you guys.

It was him feeling though he had to prove his manhood. Like he had a chip on his shoulder and it got him into deep trouble. That's not our fault. We're clear on that. Right, but I just remember while I was talking to the mayor, he did bring that up and blame it on us. So I assume that during this peace conference, he will once again bring it up and blame it on us. And I just think that we should be open and honest with Lord Pagereg right now so that it doesn't catch him off guard. That's all. If he does bring it up, it'll make him look like a child. Well, that's what we're doing right now.

We're explaining. He went crazy. That was not on us. They will say it is. It was not. When Rodswell brings that up, Malchus just sums it up. Um... Bitches be crazy. [Laughter] A captain of the guard became competitive with us. He did something stupid and lost a hand by no fault of ours. Just in case that comes up. Oh, I wonder if they think that we did the hand since we took the hands off those guys. Huh. That's weird. [Laughter] I never thought about that, but yeah, that's a conclusion one might jump to. Maybe that's your M.O. Well, he was also out there in front of thousands and he got his hand lopped off.

That's true, yeah. So you can't really say it was us. I have a question for Lord Pagereg. Um... You run a pretty multiracial town here, right? Since you've been here, it's predominantly human, but there's smatterings of elves, dwarves, and... I mean, nothing as exotic as tieflings, but... Ogres or orcs or anything like that. No, orcs are a different story. We'll get to orcs. They're not enslaving them. No, no, but um... There are certain races that just don't get along. Like, orcs and dwarves don't get along. At all. Dwarves and elves, meh, kinda. They, uh... Dwarves tend to look at elves like, you know, hoity-toity assholes and elves tend to look at dwarves like, you know, Neanderthals, so, yeah.

Oh, just... You haven't had anybody go missing in town recently, have you? Uh, no. No, not that we've noticed. Okay, just out of curiosity. Just wanted to find out. So, I guess we're done here for now? Um, Malchus makes a point of saying, "On the subject of Thoril, I know that in many people's ideal worlds he would be destroyed for what he has become. But he stomached being what he has become to save a little girl's life, and I have sworn that I will defend him with mine for doing so. I stand by that decision." Uh, he kinda just nods at that, like, okay, that's completely respectable.

And again, uh, unlike, you know, a lot of vampires who are so totally rejected by society that they end up living in sewers or caves or catacombs, things like that, and they become poachers or scavengers. Uh, Thoril's gotten a taste of that? But not enough to drive him away. Like, if he didn't have this group, there's no doubt he'd probably be living in a bell tower somewhere or something. He would completely remove himself from society. Right. He'd have no choice. Like, he'd have, yeah, I mean, he would always be on the run, so. So, um, the, the knighting ceremony would be over.

Do you want him, like, after that, do you want him to send the rider and start setting that up? Sure, I think so. Right, guys? Well, actually, Malkus. Yes? Malkus. Do you want to do that Streetwise check real quick? I'm just curious as to what the Talents people think about this whole situation. Or if they even know anything about Overdale. Am I the best Streetwise guy here? You're plus eight, yeah, you're the best one. Sure, I can give it a go. Yeah, yeah. Critical one. Um, what's in Overdale? No, uh, again, there's, there's, you'll have people visit here and there, but there's really no reason to go to Overdale unless it's for some large event which they would hold.

They, they have fairs, they have, like, Harvest Festival type events, and then, of course, there's the, um, this year they hosted the Tournament of Champions, so that was their big thing. But, uh, as far as them living there and knowing the politics of what goes on behind the scenes, they, they would have far less knowledge of that than they would, uh, like regular townsfolk who live there. And they wouldn't know that much. Now, if they've seen wanted posters, things like that, that's a different story, but there really hasn't been that much travel in the last two days, and that's how long you guys have been there.

Okay. So, you guys haven't been back in Winterhaven very long. It's only been, you know, like a day and a half, something like that, so, yeah. I was just, yeah, 'cause that, that could have been something we could have used as leverage if, you know, so. Sure. Any other things before we send the rider? No, I think we're good. Okay, send the rider. Okay. Uh, the rider, uh, just kind of streaks off into the night. Uh, now, you guys would probably, now this would take, uh, if they're coming, which, you know, odds are they are, so, uh, that would probably take a couple of days to, uh, to, to have them get here.

They're not gonna be riding as fast as they can, but they know, if they know you're in Winterhaven, that's a pretty good incentive for them to show up. So, um, is there anything you guys would like to do? You guys bought gear, so you guys, you guys got some new stuff. Is there anything you'd like to hit up or do or anything? There's, uh, the night that you guys are knighted, the, the, the, you, you guys got back, and there's gonna be a huge celebration, uh, one way or the other, just because, you know, A, you've, there's, I mean, that's the, uh, last bit of danger they've had since the last cult, and that was months and months and months back.

So, uh, they have a larger military, they feel safer, you guys are there, and it's just a, a big reason to party, so, lots of ale, lots of, lots of ladies. So the first night is just drunken debauchery. Um, if you choose to engage in that. I choose to engage in that. I also, I, I do as well. Sure, Malchus looks for, Malchus looks for an outlet for gambling in the town. Um, there's cards, you can play cards, but that's more of a, uh, like, group of guys around the table thing, there's no real, like, casino or... No, no, no, that's all I'm looking for. Yeah, uh, Malchus, Malchus gambles some of his, uh, Malchus adventures for wealth to enjoy life, so Malchus goes gambling.

So, there's, there's, it's a much more laid back atmosphere, it's much more of a communal atmosphere in Winterhaven, because it's not such a large town, uh, or city. It's not, uh, it's not that vibe, like, everyone kind of knows their neighbors, you know the butcher, you know, uh, the, the bartender, and the blacksmiths, and so, there's that kind of communal vibe, so you'll see the same people, uh, all over. And throughout the night, you'll just have people, you know, buy you a drink, or, uh, just wanna hear one of you tell a story about something you've done, or somewhere you've seen, and, uh, you guys are pretty much royalty.

Uh, I would like to ask around for some money making opportunities. This is a large concern of yours. I'm pretty broke, I haven't been around as long as you guys have, and I haven't been able to get as much money as you. Give me a prostitute. Oh, there you go. Sell yourself. You are a champion, I'm sure there'll be plenty of one here. Are you leaving that? I'm a priest, thank you. Ah. Yeah, but you wore a bar. So they'll be on the younger side. Aww. Oh, not cool. Is it? Sorry. Now we have to edit this. Yeah. Damn. There's a new pope and everything, come on. He's got a fancy hat and he's ready to go.

Timely, timely. Uh, so what you just wanna ask, you just wanna ask around if there's anyone who, cause it really hasn't been a huge money making opportunity for you guys since, uh, since the tournament of champions, really. There was large cash purchases with that. Um, uh, if you guys continue with the book quest, there's probably riches along the way for that. Um, other than that, I mean it would be little things like going hunting, things like that, like you could make a little coin here and there, but it's not gonna be anything super substantial.

Oh, and by day, Malkus makes a point of checking up on top of the walls every, every, you know, couple hours of the day, making sure there's no minotaur on the horizon. That's a big deal. You guys killed everybody, I'm pissed. Hey, I wanna know what's up with Ped-Ped Drake's daughter. Ped Drake's daughter? Ped Drake's daughter, we haven't seen her. Yeah. We rescued her. Uh, she's actually in a neighboring city, that's why she hasn't, like, she surely would come to congratulate you guys. They didn't have enough money to actually pay the actors to come back.

We couldn't afford that token, uh, sorry guys. This, uh, shows up actually on, like, Virgin being cancelled. Please tell your friends to listen to this show. I think we need to meet more female MPs, force Jason to do lady voices. Hey, it's open up! It's gonna come to that. It's gonna come to that. I freshened your drink, governor! It's just, uh, it's still open up the floor. Is anybody else curious about, uh, Draconis' seedy past? Do we wanna go further down that road? You guys are more than welcome, so... I have, uh, separated myself from the group. I understand that.

So, most of this partying... I'm gonna look around here and I'm gonna be serious. Do we know all these, do we know this dude? Like, we just brought him along and suddenly we find out he's a murderer and... I myself was surprised, to be honest with you. The way I look at it is, he helped us when we needed it, just as we helped him when he needed it. Fuck it. True. We're square. You know what? I like that guy. How many people haven't eaten humans? There you go. Malchus just gives you an arched eyebrow and raises his hand. Yeah, me too. So, you don't wanna talk about your murderous past right now?

You wanna leave that kind of float in the air? I have, uh, I've separated myself, so go drink. I am, uh, getting plastered right now. Alright. I also don't like how he separates himself from the group. I'm just gonna say that, too. So, didn't Malchus do that for the longest time? No, well, he was with Yen's word. Yen word, I'm sorry. Uh, the Rider had returned after, you know, a full day. Yeah. Which is kind of a, kind of a sigh of relief to you guys, 'cause you weren't exactly sure if he'd return. Yeah, really. Based on your past in Overdale and once he, uh, would tell the mayor why he's there and who he represents and what...

Cut that guy's throat. Thank you. Heh. Gash him open, would you? Make his horse. But it was a human. It was a Michael Weston who rode into town, so... Awesome. He could've defended himself. Did he kill the horse? Did they see the horse as a racial threat? No. [Laughter] They're so xenophobic that they don't... Outsider! How do you guys get around? Well, we ride piggyback on one another. That's the only acceptable form of transportation is other humans. And if you want to know who we ride piggyback on, look at the guy with the biggest thighs around, because, you know, thousands of pounds.

And he used coconuts. [Laughter] Okay. Uh... Coconuts. So, this, this, this meeting has been set up to take place in the largest building in Winterhaven, which is the banquet hall. So a lot of the tables and stuff have been pushed aside and they... And everybody's coming packing. Well... Packing heat. It is a kind of Mexican standoff in a weird way. [Laughter] 'Cause they don't trust you, you don't trust them. They're brainguards, you have guards. 'Cause that's kind of how something like this would spin out of control, where it's like, okay, we're going to Winterhaven surrounded by their guards.

Yeah. So we need to bring guards. They have home field advantage and they get to be setting up traps and shit for us. And the vampire tried to murder me already, so... Okay, so, I mean, that's, you know, when you're deciding, "Whoa, what do we take?" You know, that's kind of... Take everything. Um, I'll let him know that that was an accident and I apologize. I'm a human, so he can trust me. Ah. You kind of... You're humanoid. You can turn elf at one point or something. No. I know. I always thought of him as elf. I don't know why. He is a human ranger. He does look like an elf.

Kind of. I mean, he has like high cheekbones and stuff, but I think that's more because of the undead thing than the, you know... Character's like a pedophile. So, let me go ahead and load up the meeting place. I have a feeling that this meeting's going to take a while. Do we want to take five real quick in case anybody has to like pee or anything? Just pee your pants, dude. Be an adult. He'll wear pants in St. Louis, Justin. Yeah, Justin. You should know that. Is that cool? Is everyone cool with that? Oh, yeah, sure. I'm fine. Go ahead. Okay. Whatever makes you comfortable, man.

Boom. Man, I still don't feel like I know what we're asking for. Coyote acting. That's... What? You want to open up a bar where you guys dance? I'm dancing on the bar top. Okay. Now I'm going to the street to join and we can make some cool... See, I didn't get to listen to like all of the earlier episodes, so I'm kind of like figuring out what's going on as we go. So maybe announcing yourself as a murderer, maybe not... Hence why I fucking had no clue what to say when the opportunity came. I didn't know what was happening and I was like, "Okay. All right, here we go.

I'm a prisoner. Here we go." I thought that you had discussed with Jason that you had committed... As part of your character's past, that you committed a murder in Overdale. And so I was like, "Oh. Oh, this is a plot twist." See, I did do a murder thing, yes. We did talk about that. But I'm not 100% sure exactly what Overdale is and what it's about and all their people. Sure, sure. I don't know the history, their background. So yeah. Well, if nothing else, your character is as uninformed as you are. You won't have to fake your character being uninformed. Right.

I was trying to pull that out of the fire and everyone's like, "He fucked up!" I was like, "Okay, I'm just gonna..." There was no stopping it. Yeah. Well, then... Go ahead. Good. I was trying. I was like, "Okay, how can I recover from this? How can I recover from..." I'm not gonna recover. Well, I don't know about you guys. I'm comfortable with retcons if it's clear that the player did not understand what the magnitude of the decision was. Yeah, that's cool with me. I'm not... The only thing I knew is because I didn't know the history behind Overdale and all that.

So I was like, "Okay. Alright, let's just wing it here." Yeah, the big... Bad sit. Yeah. Well, and then, you know, some days you're the tiefling who shouts "blue." Okay? That's... That's true. That's how it plays out sometimes. These things all happen. I've been sitting here for a while now, I'm ready for my opportunity, and then boom, there it came, and I was like, "Holy shit, what the hell am I gonna do here?" I was like, "Spotlights on you, champ!" Yep. Something I had no idea about, and I was like, "Okay." Yeah, and it's something... You can have a lot of your character prepared in advance, but there's really no substitute for the experiences that you make through play that tell you who your character really is.

Like, I didn't know Malkus drew the line at hurting children, but when we were sitting there, you know, ready to sacrifice a child to change... To change Thoril back, I was like, "No, absolutely not." Wicked people can be punished, but... This is where I draw the line. And then Brie hugged me last episode, and it was all awesome. Don't think that she's not gonna be returning to this. Oh no, I know she's gonna get in tons of trouble, and you're just gonna... No, no, I see Brie as a character as a way for you, Jason, to twist the knife on Malkus, which is drama.

Like, that is what she's there for. She is there to torment Malkus and make him question whether or not he's a beast or a man. And that's the crux of his narrative. I was hoping somebody would approach me, by the way. When I was talking about myself. You keep... Okay. You're sending mixed signals, I gotta tell you. [laughter] You are definitely sending mixed signals. Man, I hate when a chick does that. It's like, "Leave me alone," but then she actually wants to talk and... I know, that's what I'm doing. Come on. [laughter] So, I guess, middle school dance style, this side of the room will be...

Winterhaven? So we'll have some... We'll have some Michael Westons in the room. In case shit gets real. Just gonna hang out casually by the punch bowl. [laughter] I can just, like, see Yenn-Werde there, looking back and forth, adjusting his tie. Poison it, man. Poison it. [laughter] So, yeah, this is gonna... I don't know. I'm hoping this revolt resolves peacefully, but we'll see. I can hereby change the inflection of your voice, then it won't. Well, that's up to you guys. I'm gonna burn the building down if it goes sour, by the way. You guys make this... Arsonist and murderer.

Okay, you're putting out a lot about your conus. Wait a minute. In the event that this intermission doesn't get edited out, for the sake of the listeners, let me give you some perspective here. Jason is saying, "I hope this gets resolved peacefully," but he has also presented us with the biggest wide open battle map and is already plunking guards into the environment. Hey, I come prepared, man. I've thought you guys... You guys have never resolved a thing peacefully in the entire time we've played. Anytime you're presented with an opportunity for violence, you guys take that shit.

So I'm just preparing. I would be remiss if, like, "Okay," and it leads to a fight. "Oh, I wasn't ready for that. Wait, everyone, take ten. I'm gonna do that." I spend the whole day trying to think, "Okay, how are they gonna handle this?" Jason, you're not spinning that properly. This party has a very dependable record of action. Well, action is your reward. We're consistently violent. I'll kill you for that. It does make it sound bad when, like, it's like, "And why were you working for the Black Hen, and why did you do that?" And it's like, "Well, we kind of murdered a bunch of guys, but it's self-defe--" Like, after the fourth and get like, "Maybe we are monsters, guys." It just sounded worse and worse as it went on.

Okay, it sounds real bad, but we kind of killed some guys. I helped matters, though. I helped everything. Malchus will eventually press you again on that issue, but I was still trying to-- Do you think we all will? What's up? I think we all will. That sounded like I killed somebody. Why? Don't worry about it. I think we were in a neither-the-time-nor-the-place situation, but yeah, no, it's not over. Don't worry, I will. Everybody's looking at each other. I'm worried about that. We ought to start slowly turning our heads over, Adam. Well, Jake, you have homework.

You're gonna have to really flesh that out. No, I'm just totally gonna wing it again and do terrible. No, yeah, I'll figure it out. You can't-- I mean, as long as Jason's comfortable with whatever you might kind of slip into the cannon there, like, I mean, there are things that I wing for Malchus. Oh, absolutely, but it, like, the easiest way-- whatever just pertains to your character, that's fantastic. But if it's like, "Oh, I did this in Overdale," or "I did this," like, tell me so that I know so that-- like, that's the kind of thing, but-- I would have been perfectly fine in that scenario if I knew the history, like, what Overdale was about, like, what their kind of people-- I would have been completely fine, but I had no clue.

I was like, "Okay." When I asked you, it's like, I just hear, like, it sounds like you sucking on a lollipop. Yeah, that was me, like, licking my lips there. I was like, "Hey." I, uh-- Show time. These spotlights are hot. I'm about to bullshit something. Is it hot in here, guys? Oh, God, uh-- Yeah. I'm back, brother. Sorry, Daniel had dinner, so I had to go get him. So, you guys are patiently awaiting the arrival. Of, uh, of the mayor of Overdale and his guard. Malchus just keeps conjuring his Blade of Annihilation and sharpening his fingernails with it and then vanishing it.

Do not cut your finger while you do that. That's evil? Well, you know, tieflings get a bad rap, but there's a reason they get a bad rap. Like, a lot of them are pretty shitty things. Like, they're-- So, after a certain amount of time passes, and it's kind of a fashionably late thing where you're sitting there and-- The room's silent. 'Cause, uh, you guys are just thinking about-- I'm sure a million scenarios are running through your head, "What if this turns ugly?" I mean, you're being accused of murder, or attempted murder, or both, and your accusers are coming to look you in the eye and talk to you face to face, so, um-- Real quick, before we get there, I look at the party one last time and say, "Just so I'm clear, step one, get us pardoned for whatever happened in Overdale, get a promise that we won't be pursued.

If that goes well, step two, start working on a slave-- a phasing out of slavery?" Is this-- Is that the plan? I want another blue situation. I'm looking at Jerick. Jerick, what do you want out of this? First, I don't want to be hunted anymore. That would be cool. Okay, so that is step one. Slavery, that's kind of your guys' deal? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I mean, like, I don't enjoy the fact that slavery, but at the same time, it's their war forage that's actually being hunted. Okay, so it's not your people, I see. Well, I'm just confused now about what the whole thing about us wanting to take over the town and everything was for before.

Yeah, you were adamant. I'm saying that, like, what they didn't want, what the metadata didn't want is, like, "Hey, you guys taking out the crime syndicate, that's bullshit. Don't do that." They failed to do anything about it. We stopped that. We stopped the vampires, we stopped those guys, and they persecuted us for it. They hunted us down. That's what I'm saying bullshit about. Justin wants to, like-- His concern is getting a more competent leader, and he doesn't care about slavery. Yeah. No, I'm not saying, like, I don't care about it. Like, it's bullshit to have slavery.

I'm just saying. You guys. I don't mind if you guys are slaves. Okay, so your concern actually was that these people are being ineffectually lettered and they're being led to ruin, therefore we need to replace the government? Yeah. It's lazy leadership, yeah. It really-- Jerick wasn't even interested in replacing the government. He was wanting to let the people pick their leader. But at this point, with how much they've had to deal with this guy, I think they'd probably just pick him. So I don't know if that-- I think slavery is probably the best thing you'd do.

Okay. Okay, so if we take care of the pardon for whatever's going on here, then, Broach, the slavery issue, our concern that, you know, citizens of Winterhaven as a-- I guess Winterhaven's kind of a city-state? Uh, yeah, it's counted as a city, though much smaller than-- Okay. Though much smaller than Overdale, yeah. But that we don't want innocent people-- We don't want innocent people to have to live in fear based on how they were born of being taken in as slaves. Sounds good. What about Thorol? We discussed how much is he going to affect the situation here.

I just don't know if there's going to be an instance where he walks in, sees him, and flips out, you know? Well, I imagine he's going to guess that he's going to be there. You guys are a group. You've never really not been together, so it wouldn't be shocking for-- How did he get here? I mean, he's going to expect it at that point. Food for thought, and I hate to level this at Thorol, but do we want to have Thorol stay out of the room in case this dude decides to, like, cut his finger on accident to try to make Thorol out to be the monster and, like, you know, bait him?

Just lock me in the cellar? Well, not lock you in the cellar, but just, like, maybe you should enjoy the party from a distance just so that this guy doesn't try to manipulate you, you know? You mean behind guards or, like, in another building? Well, Malkus asks Thorol, like, does that argument make sense to you or would you prefer to stay? Yeah, I can see, like, if something's not going their way, like, he, like, I can see him totally just, like, cutting himself on purpose, knowing what would happen. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, let me put it this way. Malkus brings up that issue to Thorol and then leaves it up to Thorol as to what to do with the information.

Then he bites him. I can be in another room and then if things start to go sour, you can feel free to let me know. Malkus grins at Thorol and says, "If nothing else, I'll shout 'blue.'" Nice. What if you step outside the front door so not only do we make it apparent that he's not here, but that he actually stepped out? They pass him as they walk by, knowing that we were gracious enough to have him step out of the room before they came in. I will say it's daytime outside. Oh, never mind. I got a question. What is this in the corner of the room over here, the top right?

What is that in the corner? Can he perhaps hide behind anything over there? I don't know what those are. It wouldn't affect it if he cut himself, too. Like, that's not... Okay. He needs to be in a different room. So, yeah, we can't go outside, but, I mean, yeah, a different room. Well, I mean, he could stand out. Like, he can just wear, like, you know, a cloak or something. He has a cloak. He can just put his hood up and stand outside. Like, he won't die, but he'll be weakened. Then, yeah. Is there a basement? Uh, he... yes, he can hide in the basement. That's fine.

Then we can, like, make a... he can yell "blue" if we need him. Ooh! And Malkus says again, "It is up to you, Thorol. I just... it seems... we just don't want to be unprepared." Yeah. He can turn into a bat and we can put him in, like, a cup or something. Yeah. Only for an hour, though. It'll take an hour. It's fine. Ah, whatever's gonna happen here is probably gonna happen within an hour of game time. So... Okay, so, we're ready for this. Yeah. Yep. Walking through the door, after a considerable amount of time, uh... First are the Overdill Elite Guard, which are the guys that have been tasked with protecting the mayor at all costs.

So these are the guys. I love those assholes. They look familiar. Also, Malkus is wearing the heraldry of Winterhaven, like he is wearing his proper knightly garb. That's nice. That's a nice touch. I like that. So, uh, these six guards... bam. Walk through the door first. Uh, following them... Uh, following them... Yeah, Justin, I'll lead after this. Oh. I can't talk in Skype and do this at the same time. Well, Jesus Christ. What kind of DM are you? Um... So, uh, coming through the door next is, uh, Leora, the Vampire Hunter. Ooh. Ah, good move. Uh, which... Malkus cannot contain his scowl at her, but he doesn't take any action.

When she walks through the door, she walks in, makes eye contact with Malkus, and smiles. I think she thinks you're cute, Malkus. I know, I'm saying she's close. I'm sure it was a good not having me around. Yep. Then Father Carter comes in directly after his card and Leora, after he's made sure that he would be protected. Uh, and then the Captain of the Guard walks in. Oh, shit! Hey! Everybody claps. Give him a hand, everybody. Who brought him up, by the way? Good thinking. Who brought him up? That was me. That was you. Good thinking, Dan. That was... Uh, Ian Cerberus is no longer the Captain of the Guard.

Yeah. Awesome. Uh, this is, uh, this is a large meeting, so I'm gonna need some help. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show, Mr. Jeremy Alonzo... *gasp* ...playing the part of the new Captain of the Guard of Overdale, Treyus Traversen. Oh my God. Howdy. I am speechless. I am, well, I'm not, 'cause I just talked, but I'm, you know, effectively. Jay, how you doing? Doing well, doing well. Uh, your mic is a little distant. You might wanna... That's the one thing we did not go over, was it? Um, we talked earlier, and it sounded fine, so... How's it now?

Sounds good. I did nothing. *laughs* Well, it sounds good. Continue not doing anything. Um, guys, you remember Jay? Oh, yes. Yeah. Uh, no. We haven't met. Well, Jake, yeah, well, okay. Jake and Jeremy have never met. Uh, Jay, this is Jake. Jake, Jay. What's going on? Uh, Jay played a character named Treyus for a long time on the show and was part of the group and everything. Okay. Uh, and now he is the captain of the Guard of Overdo. Alright. Okay. I forget what terms he left our group on. Poorly. Good terms. *laughs* Did it start with the Empire Escapade, or... Uh, it was after the, uh, tournament champions.

Right? Okay. The tournament champions. It, remind me what happened. He was so pissed off about the slavery thing that he took off on his own, right? Pretty much, yeah. So I went back to, um, go and chart land at the previous person for academia. Did you finish our quest where we had to chart that? Sure did. Did that guy ever get his maps? He was probably pissed. So he's probably like a level 12 because of that one quest. *laughs* Um... So... So, so, Roswell, although, I just want to point out, you know, while Malkus is obviously shocked, as is Ironhide and, you know, well I guess not so much Thor.

Um... "Grace, how you doin'?" As they are obviously shocked, uh, myself, Ynward, and Draconis really don't understand why. So we're all... Yeah, I don't understand the logistics of the fact that if he's so pissed off about the slavery thing in Overdo, why he would become the captain of the Guard. I'm sure we'll get there. Well, it's because it's a new captain. Not a new captain, but it's a new ruler, so... So I'm just gonna lean over to Malkus right now and kinda go, "Do you know him?" It's a long story. *laughs* Uh, of course this is a formal setting, so, uh...

Speaking individually is gonna be tricky, but wow, someone's sliding up and down their microphone. It really doesn't matter if anybody heard me. That's fine. No, no, no. I mean, speaking, like, you guys, like, I mean, you can address him, of course. Like, I mean, this is, like, you guys are here to kinda hash out your differences. Um... Unless things were to turn ugly. Um, so, introductions start being made, uh, Lord Padraig kinda steps forward and he, he introduces, he's like, "Well, of course, you know, you know me," and, uh, him and Carter know each other, and then he starts introducing you guys, just for the sake of, you know.

Um... And Leora, uh, speaks up when he gets to Malkus. And she says, "Oh, we've met." And she kinda gives this wry smile about it. Uh, Malkus just nods. That is, that is, that is factually accurate. *laughs* That's all he's giving her, though. *laughs* Um... How would you guys like to start this off? Would you guys like to start, or... Would you like us to start? Is this, is this, uh, brother, what's his name, I'm talking? Father... Uh, uh, uh, Zan and Carter, yeah. Father, who cares? Um... Malkus will start, yeah. Um, first of all, thank you for responding to our, uh, to our writer, and thank you for, uh, making your way to Winterhaven.

We appreciate your efforts to come out here and speak with us. *sighs* A series of misunderstandings occurred in Overdale that has resulted in myself and my companions having our faces plastered in the walls of every bar from here to your cap- to your capital. We need to get on with our lives, and we cannot do that peaceably until this harassment stops. Uh, Carter speaks up and says, "Your lives were forfeit the minute you attempted to murder me." When did we attempt to murder you? *laughs* He was just like, "Really?" *laughs* That's it, I'm on their side.

No, I'm curious, I really want to know, because what I remember happening was an accident in which I saved your life. And I'm just curious as to, like, how I- I want to clear this up, because I- if you really do think that we tried to murder you, I want to make it clear, it was an accident, and I did everything I could to save your life. Uh, uh, he- right after you're done responding, he says, "There would be no need to attempt to save my life if you didn't carry around that animal." I back down. I don't have the diplomacy to go after this. *laughs* The execution- My awful stuff from behind the door.

We never actually decided where the door was, so we- *laughs* You're at, uh, Tyler's in the basement, Jay, just to let you know. Okay. They decided that would be best. Oh, we know. *laughs* Um, I will not stand to see Thoril executed. In our profession. In our dirty, messy, inconvenient profession. Which often leads to comfortable lives for peaceful citizens. We do not always have a choice in what we become based on what we defend you from. Thoril paid a huge price to take on undead. And he has agreed to not risk the life of a child. In order, uh, with an opportunity to become normal again.

I will not see him called an animal for making that decision. Uh, Carter speaks up again. How many- how many has the vampire fed on? Since he turned. How many? How many people has he fed on? Haven't we- haven't we had him always do that on dead people at this point? Yes. None. So far, yeah. Dead animals and stuff? Minotaur. No, the deer wasn't dead. Minotaurs aren't people. To this day- to this day, we have made sure that he is only fed on animals. Or persons who are already deceased. But you watch him like a dog. We turn. And how long- how long before he gets away from you one time?

How much damage could he do in an evening? In a moment? It does not matter. Trigas raises his hand. May I cut in here? Sure. Speaking as an associate of the fine gentleman you see before you, who in fact have done a lot of good for our land. To call upon strangers such as that to try and neutralize certain evil entities and such is almost the same as to call upon gasoline to put out a fire. Don't you understand, not just for your own benefit, not just for our benefit, but also for your benefit, for at this time to just step down and follow within another line of thinking.

Do you want to move on with your lives? Just decided. I believe that's why we formed this group in the first place, was to try and make a difference. We had called the Jochen Leah Junior Detective Agency, but we were in fact helping people. And how many people have really been lost as a result of this? Can anybody name offhand? Raphael the thief? Zelda's death? What ever happened to Chivari? Ummm... He walked away. He just walked away. He was a terrible wizard. He walked away. Killed himself in disgrace. Joy Longbottom, who I do not see with us today, unfortunately.

Rest his soul. For good reasons. Ummm... I am his father. I don't think we've been introduced, I'm assuming you knew my son. No, he was looking for you. You do realize that. No, he was looking for his real father. Oh, your stepfather. I am a stepfather. I see. I apologize, I should have made myself more clear. Ummm... He was foolhardy, to say the least. And from what I understand, his death had nothing to do with anything else other than his own incompetence and arrogance. Going back to the gasoline and putting out fire, I mean, I'm not by any means trying to denigrate or devalue your contributions to island.

But you have to understand, though, it's when you take something that is so volatile and you introduce it into an environment which nurtures it to such a negative degree, things like this are going to happen. To people such as Raphael, Joy, Chivari, and then there's Attic all the way to space, so that druid really wasn't cut out to hang with the big boys in the dungeon, but still. Double-A's never going to hear this anyway. Shhhhhh. All of a sudden you see in the text, "HMMM." It's like, "Hellcon, how did he get in here?" "He's gonna kill us all!" "Is anybody here a helicopter?" "Wait." "There's a sniper on the roof!" Carter walks up behind Trace and puts a hand on his shoulder.

And he says, "See, even your former compatriot understands the need for order." "You gentlemen violated every law we had in Overdale." "You've murdered countless citizens, whether they walked on the right side of the law or not." "You did it outside of your jurisdiction. You had no right." "You had no lawful way of imposing any kind of justice in town." "You were not guards. You took it upon yourself." "No matter how right you thought you were, you murdered." "And you left a string of bodies from your headquarters all the way across town and into a bar." "And that was just one occasion." So why is it that when we do so to protect ourselves it is against the law, yet when they do so, for thousands of cheering onlookers against what you guys consider beasts, it is celebrated?

I don't think, coming from an outsider's point of view, I don't think I understand that. I don't think anybody could empathize with that more than I could, but I can assure you on behalf of Mr. Carter, who is very passionate right now, as you would understand, Mr. Longbottom, people do have passion. They do speak out of line. They do act out of line whenever they speak something they believe in. I agree with you completely regarding the atrocity that occurred that day, but bear in mind though, that was the previous administration of Overdale. Carter is now in control and after speaking with them, after he sought me out, after leaving to go and chart maps, which we have declined, there's a lot of merit to what he has to say.

I believe that between the differences we have with each other morally and so forth, there is a lot we have in common here. What about Draconis? He was the advisor to the mayor though. Doesn't he have the same? It doesn't mean he has full authority to say yes or no when it comes to major events. The previous mayor though was a debaucherous, huge gas bag of a man who, you know, he was hedonism bot, basically, that's what he was. Speaking as outsiders, you could plainly see that. Surely you could understand that the administration saw the writing on the wall.

It was just a matter of time. How do you explain Draconis? Carter steps forward and he's like, "Yeah, while it's true, we are currently rounding up anyone who may have a connection to you in Overdale. It's purely for questioning. We mean no harm to these people." We clearly saw what was being done to Draconis' what we found out later to be girlfriend, I guess? Girlfriend wife. There was a tiefling that was being abused while under your capture. That doesn't sound like... I find that very hard to believe. They were in cages. Like animals. They weren't in cages.

They were, weren't they? I thought you said they were in cages. They were in cages. Is it roleplay or what? We constantly step in and out. They were not in cages. I'm just correcting. She was being shoved along like an animal. I would be happy to speak to the guards and question, where might they be? Malchus? Oh, sure. Now it's Malchus' turn. I just heard "blue." Oh, shit. Blue? I heard something today. We're good. How does this lamp end up on my head? I have to sleep. Okay, you can walk away slowly. Or was this another situation where you were just acting in defense?

Why do you ask questions that Leora has no doubt already talked to you about? Yeah, she told me of your attack on the caravan. And I've seen the aftermath. I know firsthand what kind of damage you gentlemen can do. Which is exactly why I recruited her and had her come to Overdale. Specifically for the vampire, but as you no doubt know by now, she can handle herself against pretty much anything. Okay. We were there. And Leora was there as well. Why is it that when we... somebody screamed "blue," we don't know who it was. But when everybody presented themselves, the first attack made, the first stab, was into the back of a defenseless woman.

We were the attackers. Why not attack us? Certainly Leora can speak for herself. We could bring her forward right now and ask her if she did or did not do such a thing. Woman voice. "Who is it?" "Who?" No. It's just a simple nod or shake of the head. She would point out that the first attack made was by the vampire against her. True. Thank you for your kindness. Thanks for your kindness. Sorry. Sometimes I have to see. Look, we'll give you the dragon. Is that cool? She's a killer anyway. So it appears we have no quarrel with this issue then. So you admit your guilt in attacking the caravan outside of Overdale?

You admitted your guilt in taking prisoners that you didn't need to take, correct? Questioning. They were apprehended for questioning. To ascertain your whereabouts. And they also developed feet, their legs, and their arms. The bottom line is we were treated like dogs. And I lost my woman because of it. That's the bottom line. The best I can tell you is prisoners aren't normally treated with the utmost of respect. If you were mistreated during your apprehension... She was absolutely innocent by the way. She wasn't a prisoner. She was wanted for questioning, wasn't she?

How is she a prisoner? Exactly. But when you're wanted for questioning you become a prisoner when you're... She was wanted for questioning just because she was different. The only crime was being not human. Which, I mean, look at your group. If I had my choice between asking all the humans in town or asking tieflings, dragonborn... I'm going to ask tieflings and dragonborn. But look at this. There's one tiefling, there's one dragonborn, there's one minotaur, there's one robot, there's one vampire, and there's one human. There's one of each of us. I don't see how you can think, "Why didn't you go up, round up all the war priests?" There's just as many of them as there are tieflings.

Well, you said it yourself. There's one human. And each one of these other things are a race of themselves. They're not all grouped into one... I don't know why you view them as one thing. In Overdale, it's much less likely to run into someone who isn't human as it is to run into a minotaur, a tiefling. You would understand that I would ask minotaurs and tieflings if they've seen more of their kind and where we could find them. Then why did you ask a minotaur... or why did you ask a tiefling in a warforged to do your bidding in the first place? Wait, what do you... oh, for the group itself?

Yeah. Oh, I had no problem with any race until they've given me reason to mistrust them. Yes, but one member of that race... in your eyes, one member of that race gave you a reason not to trust them, so therefore you're going to condemn everyone else of that race? Well, that's the only interaction that I've had with your race. You're an ambassador for your race. You have all chosen not to conduct yourselves within the parameters of society. That was your choice. You should have to pay for your crimes as a result. What about all the humans that were choosing to conduct themselves not within the realms, the parameters of society that were in your town?

Did you bring that to a guard's attention? Brought it to justice. So justice is murder. You said that you saw it. You said you knew it was happening. You told us that. You did nothing about it. You allowed this act to go on. And if you had proof of wrongdoing... what was your proof of wrongdoing, by the way? For who? This would be Carter asking you how you knew he was an element that needed to be murdered, eliminated. He came after us. Wait, you mean the Black Hand? Yes. Yeah, the Black Hand sent assassins after us. As a result of what? Because we failed to get mushrooms.

That was it, right? So again, though, this is... you were working for him, a deal went bad, and because of that... See, he's looking at it as you both are criminals. Like, you both operated outside of the law. Mushrooms are freaks. From what I understand, they weren't doing anything... they may have been working for someone that was underhanded, but they weren't doing anything outside the law. You're being affiliated with a criminal organization that is known for, among other things, trafficking... What all was it? I believe a child... And you tell us to go to the courts, and yet they've been festering in your city for what, months, years?

Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes a while for the administration to slip over between... I was just really appointed as the head of the guard, okay? We're making steps, very small, but once again, that was moments after the previous administration was on its way out. It seems like you're pretty quick on... It seems like you're pretty quick on to interrogating non-humans. Rounding them up, you're pretty quick on doing that. Whatever the criteria is between us and the field associates that are working outside of the town, that is based upon them. They're sworn into duty.

You have to take that up with them. The only thing that we know is that we were trying to find certain people, and they were giving leads. How they went about those leads is between them, but they actually are trained, and they are actually authorized to do the things they do, unlike you people. And Carter speaks of... And again, I would reprimand those men myself, but as you know, they're all dead. We have no witnesses, no proof anymore of what happened. All we have is just documentation and eyewitnesses placing you under the employment of a criminal organization to which we know no bounds of.

So, we kind of have a stalemate here, is what I'm looking for. No one's gonna give. You're an officer with a criminal that they allowed to be in the city, knowingly that they were being criminals. Even though you just mentioned that there are known criminals, known child assassins, they killed children in their sleeping shed. Well, the child thing you guys put... By the way, the child thing... That was a joking thing, but still, they do some really bad things. You don't get the name Black Hand from saying, "I helped all the ladies cross the street." Here's the thing, though.

Okay, you are correct that we took employment from the Black Hand. Nothing illegal. What? Nothing illegal. Was the nature of our quest, was it to get something illegal or anything? Was it... It was to get something from a cave and see what happened to the person, the group of people that he sent in there with. Okay, there is no documentation pertaining to what exactly you were doing for them, but do you... Honestly, I'm the leader of this guard. I would pretty much take the helm of trying to track people down at this sort of happen underneath my watch. Do you mean to tell me that a mass murder, which occurred the night before, ahead of time, had something to do with something as frivolous as mushrooms?

I find that hard to believe. We were attacked. We fought back. You cut the hands off of men and placed it on their... Bad people understand fear. There's a thing called due process. There was no leader of the guard. So, okay, hearing all this... If you are accusing us of acting outside of the order, I plead guilty to that, because we are an element that kills bad people. It's messy, it's not happy, it's not friendly, but it gets jobs done and your lives are better for it. Is it? Are we? Yes, without question. Carter kind of steps forward after all this, and there was no captain of the guard at the time.

And while you men, for better or worse, may not have been doing anything illegal for the Black Hand, working with the Black Hand at all, a known criminal, is bad enough. But after you operated in self-defense, after the first wave of assassins or thugs, which is much more likely, allegedly attacked you, did you stop or did you go on the offensive? Because they would have totally quit coming after us. Yep, that's what would have happened there. Well, if you're operating on assumptions like that, why is it... Who would we have gone to? You said yourself...

There were still town guards. There were still... No, the guards hadn't rooted them out by now. How were they going to... I mean, these men fought us and gave us a run for our coin. And they stole something from us. They stole our book. They stole something from us. So you murdered a flock of men over a book. You don't know what you're dealing with. This is foolish. This is the same book that your previous lord gave to us for a prize, for killing the most people. Right, but he still sees it as a book. And he warned them not to let it get into the wrong hands.

I don't think he did. I made that up, but we're seeing how it works. There's a documented proof. There's a documented proof, right? I totally don't remember saying that, but okay. So, once again, just outside of roleplay, this is like before an audience or something, correct? This is just them in a room hashing it out. No audience, no... This is just them in a room. Okay, I see. They've obviously come here for the negotiation of your surrender. And you guys... I mean, whether you see yourselves as guilty or not, I don't know if that's going to happen. So, how would you like to proceed?

Well, I... You have options. Sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. Go, go, go. Um... If you were here to negotiate our surrender, then I'm sorry we've wasted your time. If you're going to draw swords on us inside of our own home city, that's up to you. Maybe we should roll the diplomacy check or something. I don't know, I think I liked it better this way. I was just fired up. Just saying in a room, "You wanna fight, huh? You wanna fight?" No, I just said, "It is up to you where this goes tonight." Leora, at this point, is kind of like... not stroking, but she's definitely like holding her crossbow very tightly.

She has it at the ready. And her eye kind of narrows because the other one's covered with a patch. Probably fine, because she likes the patch. Carter kind of puts a hand on her shoulder and backs her off a bit. And he says, "Of course that would be your answer to this as another pointless fight." I didn't ask for a fight. I said it's up to you how you act on this information. Don't put words in my mouth. So he calmly kind of looks around the room and he realizes that within seconds this place could be swarmed with more guards if a fight were to break out.

So at this point he's pretty much motioning towards the door. And he says, "I'll give you one week to think about it." "If you choose to surrender yourselves at the gates of Overdale for your crimes and be judged by a panel of your peers, then there need not be any bloodshed or violence." Who do you consider to be our peers? That would be determined at a later time. Yeah, that's the laughable part. That was Malkus laughing, by the way. That was pretty clear. A panel of tieflings will be a point... Will be dragged into the city. Would there be a chance of possibly fighting this out, not literally fighting, but doing it on neutral ground?

In front of a neutral jury? Oh, I see, I see. Like a relocation of... Well, I mean, there's really two cities on the west coast here. So, I mean, unless you guys met in a field halfway between the two... There are towns and logging camps and such, but... The only problem is that Overdale has been poisoned by their opinions, and obviously Winterhaven considers us to be heroes, so... I would prefer it here, but I'm sure that wouldn't be fair to... Triss is going to just raise his hand, and he's going to kind of bring Carter aside for a second and pass him a node.

As he's just jotting something down really quick. Yeah, Malkus doubles back to the party for a minute here and says, "Hey guys, come... If they're gonna whisper, we're gonna whisper." Yeah, I'll whisper. So, do I... Malkus looks at everyone here, arranged here, and gets close enough to whatever... Well, I guess I want to include Thorol somehow. Can we go to whatever door Thorol is? You know what, I think we owe Pandrig the honor of hearing him. We're getting him in a lot of shit right now. Can we get somewhere that we can... You guys are fine, they can't hear you, it's fine.

Okay, but I just want to make sure we're including Thorol in this too. Do I speak for all of us when I say, "I'm not going to trial, and I sure as hell am not going to prison." We're not wrong. It isn't always pretty what we do, but what we do is important, and I won't be dragged to trial or jail for it. I... If we fight, then we get caught in the same situation we were in before, where we are basically owning up to what they are saying. At this point, we let them draw swords, and if they choose to draw swords, that's up to them. We defend ourselves with whatever force we need to.

And of course, history is written by the winners, so... Yeah! Make sure to win! I included Lord Pandrag in this because I was curious as to what he thought about the situation. Yeah, okay, yeah, let him... Jason? Oh, I'm sorry, what was that? What does Lord Pandrag think about our position? Yeah. Well, he's been quiet this entire time because again, he... Like, the worst possible outcome is for this to lead to, like, a "war." And that's what I'm worried about. That's the worst possible thing because that means you're dedicating time and energy not just to try to survive and get by day to day, but to fight an enemy.

Constantly. Constantly on your guard, constantly wondering what they're doing, you know, so... So is he kind of like, "I will follow you, but I don't want this," or... I mean, he, like, his situation would be he owes you guys far too much to not... Take our standards. Yeah, he owes you far too much to not back you up. He knows that you wouldn't just, you know, rape and murder and... So, I mean, it's kind of a thing of, you know, believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. So, I mean, he knows you guys to be honorable and forthright and everything, so whatever happened in Overdale, like, that's not his business.

Because you guys have been fantastic in Winterhaven, but this isn't going away. The problem at this point is that once we do not... Malchus, yeah, you stated that we are giving them the option to draw swords, yet he has placed it in our hands. He has told us, "If we don't turn ourselves in, then we know the outcome." This is going to be blamed on us, on their side, and Winterhaven will believe that we're the heroes. That's the way it's going to be. Now, the question is, is do we want to risk the lives and manpower and time of Winterhaven to support our needs?

Do we believe they owe it to us? Would you... Okay. Malchus thinks for a moment, and Malchus says, "I am prepared to..." What's the word? Kill him. I'm prepared to murder you. Stab, stab. I'm prepared to relinquish my position as a Knight of Winterhaven and all rights, privileges, etc., thereof with Lord Padraig's blessing, if that will get them out of it. I won't drag the entire city of Winterhaven down with me on this thing. But I'm not going to their trial, and I'm not going to their prison. But if I have to, I will let go of every privilege I have been granted as a Knight of Winterhaven.

I will put that aside. They don't care about our honor. They just want us dead. Right, and I'm saying, fine, chase me, but don't get Winterhaven into it. And if I have to give up my position to keep Winterhaven out of it, I'll do it. But if we don't have Winterhaven, there's no way we're taking down the entire city. No, we're just going to... I mean, let them waste the manpower chasing us all over creation. We're adventurers. We walk the earth. Right, but we still need a place to rest, to, you know, gather our... And eventually we'll be far enough away that it won't be cost-effective to pursue us anymore.

Problem solved. It's like two towns. Alright, listen. I think right now, their leadership is right in this room. If we provoke them into a fight where they attack us first, then I feel as though we can tear right through them. With a queer conscience. Preferably we provoke them. Preferably we say, "You're welcome to go home now." And they go home. I mean, that's the best situation. But if we bring in Thorl... I'm just saying. That might be... She was already ready to fight. If we were to provoke them in this room and take them out in this room... Well, but in their eyes, they're apprehending a fellow.

The provocation, I suppose, ultimately doesn't matter, because they're apprehending murderers in their eyes. Okay, but it makes them look like bandits or something. Like just savages if they come over here after we say, "Hell..." There you go, sorry. I was getting rid of him so he didn't hear us talk about how we're gonna manipulate them. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, we're talking right into his ear. I think we should move over here. But like, we extend an olive branch to them. They come over here and they attack first. That right there, like, we seem like heroes.

Well, but we also... extended an olive branch, kind of. We were asking them over here to ask for two favors for ourselves. Stop chasing us and stop having slaves. I mean, that's... Right, but they don't know that coming over here. True. True. I see where Ironhide's coming from. If we take them out, if we take the two that are in the room out right now, then... Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is even being discussed. Me neither. Me neither. There's not much there's gonna be to do. I think, honestly, at this point, I would just scratch the whole slave thing and just focus on us not being in the hunt for them.

They already said that was the old guy anyway. They're not interested in slaves. So, let's just worry about us. No, we're not, we're... I don't think we're getting free. I think this is the point. This is, they leave and expect us on their doorstep or we sit here and fight. Uh, we've been talking on this side too. Uh... We... Ooh, you don't wanna say that? We just thought, we just thought you should know. That's all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, um... I think... I think we have a middle ground we can agree on. Is this, is this... This is Carter. This is Carter. This is them talking.

Um... Uh... Carter, uh... Make sure to include Lord Pageregan. It's like he's looking straight at him. Um... And he says, "If these men agree... ...to never venture south again... ...never come near... ...the city of Overdale... ...again... ...then we will, we will stop chasing them. We will no longer seek their apprehension. We will no longer question... ...uh, people as to their whereabouts. But, if we see them within our borders... ...then this, this, this treaty is off. This pact is, is done and... ...we will stop at nothing to apprehend them and bring them to justice in Overdale.

In front of the people of Overdale. And that is the best deal I can cut you. Question about the world in that case. Oh wait, go, I'm sorry, go ahead. And that is the best deal that I can cut you, as an old friend. Okay. Uh, Jason, question about the world. Sure. How many people are there in the world of heroic proficiency like us? Um, it's a fairly common profession to start out as an adventurer. Lots of people try it. Lots of people want to be in a rock band. But, lots of people don't get past, let's say, like in this level one or two. Something like that before they fight.

Like, there's lots of Chavars and Rafales, if you know what I mean. Like, and Atticles. It's like, "Oh, I'm gonna go out there. Boom!" "I'm gonna take a nap." [Laughter] It's a lot of stuff like that. So, um, you guys are getting to a point where locally you're very much like, you're basically folk heroes here. So, you're getting to that point. Once you get past a certain level you're gonna be head and shoulders above, you know, other adventurers. But there are lots of people who will do things for hire like clear out a vampire cave. Or, you know, chase away some elves from crops or something like that.

That's a pretty common profession. Gotcha. But once we reach a certain level, will they understand that there's no amount of guards in the world that they could throw at us to stop us if we did walk back into that region to, say, like, save them from something important? Will they understand our level of power when we reach that level of power? There's two ways to look at that. Yes, there is. There's the, like, "Wow, they're really powerful. We should just not fight back." Or, "Hey, they're really powerful. We should throw everything we have at them and maybe we'll be the ones to take them out." We should, I don't know, recruit our old friend and figure out how to destroy them, you know? [Laughter] I mean, it's like Godzilla movies.

I mean, Godzilla's wrecking the city, but that doesn't stop soldiers from shooting at them. I take it that the offer is basically, "We let you run your town however you choose." Yes. "We don't interfere in your affairs no matter what we hear, no matter what we see happening, as long as you don't pursue us." Right. And they're doing the same with Winterhaven. They don't want to encroach upon, you know, Winterhaven's command. They don't want to tell Padraig how to run his city and they don't want to walk in. It's obviously, you don't want to go. To him, you fled to Winterhaven to hide.

Whether that be the case or not, you fled here to hide. And it's like, we can't, short of burning this place to the ground, they can't just, you know, and they obviously don't have the manpower to do that. So for better or worse, this is the best deal they're probably going to offer you. Do you promise to take no slaves from Winterhold's lands? Winterhaven. Winterhaven, sorry. It's okay. They, yeah, they're not into slave trade. That's not what they were trying to do when they apprehended Jirconis and the Tiefling girl, he says. It was just simply questioning.

Okay. "Our new plans for Paraenaun include nothing about slavery." I'm pleased to hear that. Malchus turns back to the party and says to them quietly, "I'm prepared to take this offer." Amen. Yep, sounds good. That's handy. Wait, wait, who was the long sigh? Jirconis. Okay. It seems just too, uh... Too good to be true? Yeah, seems too simple. To me, I think that the only problem is going to arise at some point. I don't know what's on that note. I made a bid for you. I tried to stick my neck out for you yet again to give you guys another chance, or at least a running start if you decided to start fighting.

I just... my only concern is that something's going to happen that's going to perk our ears, and are we, as a group, ready to not only avoid Overdale, but to ignore it? I am. Don't even, like, stay out of it. Don't mention it. Don't look in a general direction. Right. Stay away. Because that's the question. Are we prepared to ignore it? Because we don't know what kind of... like, they're telling us this in the room right now, and I choose... I'd like to believe them. And I would love... I don't know Treyas, you know? Mm-hmm. And... Nor do I. All I know is Carter, and Carter's done nothing but show me that he is not true to what he's saying right now.

I saw him, you know... what he was saying in that room with us before was blatantly racist. And now he's here to say that they're not interested in slavery. It was not an interest... you know, and they didn't... it just seems odd. And if you guys are willing to ignore, then I'm in. But I just don't want to get, you know, four or five days down the road, hear about them taking more prisoners for another random questioning, or taking more slaves for another tournament of champions, and us have to live with that if you guys aren't prepared to do that. They just want us out of the... they want us dead, and this is the easiest way to get them to look like heroes.

May I speak? For us? Sure. It's very simple. We've given you an ultimatum. Now, there's a solution which will let us go about our business, let you go about your business amicably, and if there's a problem here, we're not afraid to deal with it right now. So the two solutions, it seems like, are no more Overdale, period. Don't go anywhere near Overdale. Don't say it back. Or there's gonna be death right here, right now. Or we could... Oh yeah. We could still do the trial issue. My... You can submit for trial. That's totally... I feel as though that's a game over.

I guess this is more of a world question. Is... could... if we ignore Overdale, are we cutting Overdale off? Is that done? Is the story over? Or is there a... you know, I mean... I can't... like a possibility of like... Is that a roleplay thing or is that just like a DM question? That's a DM question. Okay. I mean, to tell you it's like, "Well, that doesn't exist on the map." That's not true. Like, it doesn't... like, it's gonna continue to do its thing. It's a part of the world in that respect, yes. Right. But it won't... like, there's no guarantee it's gonna be like, "Oh, well, you know, Overdale is..." or, "Somebody has kidnapped somebody, they went to Overdale just to fuck you over." No, no.

No, it's... yeah, we're not gonna... yeah, but... It just seems like every decision we've made so far has at one point or another come back to bite us in the ass, and I have a strong feeling that if we choose right now to save ourselves, then that will come back to bite us in the ass. Could we ask for another summit in the future? To talk in Winterhaven? I imagine. Yeah, there's nothing stopping you guys from... from... Just want to see what you're up to. I could very well foresee a future in which we go off, get the... you know, do the book quest, come back, and then we hear, "Oh, yeah, by the way, Winterhaven, all slaves, they started killing every tiefling they saw..." Well, okay, wait...

But then we have grounds to walk back in there and beat asses 'til sundown. I mean... Right. There's not... But then there's also been torture done, you know? Yeah, but in that... in that reality where I just go fucking crazy one day and it's like, "Everyone's dead!" Like, a huge comp... like, I mean, that... first of all, that would destroy a large amount of work I've been doing on this side, and that... And Tracius would not stand for that. No, and that... that completely goes against, like, the entire point Tracius is there as the captain of the guard is, like, he didn't change his belief system or anything like that.

That would... like, that's... So, I mean, it would kind of go against everything we've built, and secondly, it would give you, like, like... like, Malcom... like Rob said, it would give you guys a free ticket to beat ass all day long. Like, just... And, like, furthermore, Dan, what you were saying is, like, is like this, you know, is what you're saying basically like, "This seems too good to be true?" It's... it is... okay. Let's go outside game world for a second, okay? Yes, I thought we were. Okay. Real world. Real world. Jason, as a DM, has always picked little things to come back around to us.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Okay. [laughter] I can see the gears turning at Jason's head as we do things. And reading Jason as a DM, right now, this smells real fishy. Well, the book thing is going to lead us back to Overdale, because that's where fucking "What's His Hero's Name" was from, right? No. No, no, that was... That's why I need a wiki. Yeah, we do need a wiki, actually. This is getting plot-threading. We need... we need to keep track of all this. The book was... I think I lost Jeremy, too. Did we? Overdraw. That's his name. Oh. I think we did lose Jeremy.

He'll pop back in in a second. The book thing was something that followed wherever the Tournament of Champions was taking place. Okay. So that was... yeah, that's something that, like, just because it was taking place in Overdale, that's where... yeah. That's where I thought that "What's His Name," that's where I thought where he lived at. Yeah, and I want to make things painfully clear to you guys. You guys built this. Yeah. I understand. No, I understand. What I'm saying is, though, is that it... There definitely seems to be a... like you said, the world continues.

You have to build this world. You're telling us right now to trust Tracius. You're telling us that he did not change. I'm telling you that he funded... okay. His moral belief was so thick and that that he walked away from the situation. When he saw that, like, you know, the Thor becoming a vampire, the slave trade thing, like, he got out of it. Like, he just... he's like, "I want nothing to do with it." His convictions are that strong that he walked away from profit and adventure and all that stuff, the friendship you guys have forged. Why would it not still be that strong?

Because he's standing next to a man who just said that he judges every single tiefling based on his interaction with one. But you gotta... okay, if that's been his only interaction with that race, and, I mean, like, okay, imagine you've never met a Spanish dude before, right? But all you've ever heard was like, "Man, Spanish dudes just cut people for no reason." Did you know that? Like, all you've ever heard was, like, blatant racism. And in the world of D&D, tieflings are like... Imagine being a black dude in the South, like, in the 50s. Like, that's what they are.

Like, they're like, "Oh, man, they'll just kill you." Malchus knows Malchus and didn't defend him, and that's my question to you. But after you guys go on a kill-crazy rampage, isn't it kinda hard to defend your buddy? He wasn't there. No, he wasn't there, but, like, you look at the aftermath, and it's like, "Was he here during that?" Oh, he was! Yeah, but he has to realize... I'm sure he was just cranky. ...who you are. Wait, but when you mutilate bodies... Because he wasn't there, like, there are bodies mutilated, there are... I mean, like, it's tough to defend that kind of thing, but he still wants to help you.

Couple of things real quick. Number one, we're having a very 21st century racial profiling argument about a world where there are angels and devils coming into actual existence in the physical world who have immutable natures of good or evil. So that's thing number one. Yes. Number two, Dan, your first argument against this was that you can see Jason's wheels turning and that you're just waiting for him to twist the knife. My real-world argument is, "Yes, I fully expect Jason to twist the knife." That's the crucible of drama. Malkus will take this buyout, and it's not clean, and it's not pretty, and it's probably going to come back to bite him, and that's going to be an exciting adventure when we have to decide, "Well, are we going to walk over that border and fix whatever's going on there or not?" And I understand that, and I think my thing is, and this is...

When I stepped outside of the game for a second, when I bring it back as characters, if we are fully taking in everything that goes around us and how much we've cared about stuff in the past, are we willing to possibly sacrifice Winterhaven for this? You know what I mean? I want some kind of guarantee from the other side, and it doesn't seem like... Well, he already said he wanted nothing to do. The only thing he could do is give his word as the political figure of that town. Like, you guys are knights of Winterhaven. If you gave your word to somebody, you're dealing with a universe where that carries weight.

It's not like, "Oh, I promise I'll be there tomorrow." Like today, in this world, that doesn't carry much weight. But in this world, it's like, "Oh, you're a knight," and you tell somebody that, that carries a lot more weight. The same thing with him. He's a mayor. Just like Padraig didn't really get involved too much in this, to step forward and defend you guys, he didn't want to be a shield you guys are hiding behind. That's the point of this conversation. That's the point, like, you guys get a chance to defend yourself without fear of just being taken into custody and dragged away and put in a dungeon.

And he's telling you that that's fine. As long as you don't come down south, we won't come up north. Um, question. Alright, alright, never mind. Jaren looks like he's coming back. I just didn't know if he was, like, something's going on with his internet or what. Uh, his power gave out. He texted me. Like, if it had to happen, I'm glad he got, like, stuff like he wanted to say. But yeah, we've been planning this for, like, two months, so it's kind of cool that... Nice, nice. So that's why, okay, now we're, okay, never mind. That's why he kept saying, "You're gonna have to deal with Overfail." It's like, "Oh no, you're dealing with that shit at some point." Um, but yeah.

And that makes it even weirder, that thing that I sent to you. Yeah. So they make a picture of...? Yeah, that weird picture of his weird dick. That was so weird. You mean he had our pictures floating around? Yeah. Why is your dick square? [laughter] The pitch? Dan is a Minecraft character. Um... Yeah, that is really weird. Seriously, though. In the interest of continuing to move forward, is there any new information argument against taking the steel? Or have, or do you feel that we've inadequately addressed any of the old information arguments? No. Malchus is ready to take.

I'm not. Well, your options are fight, or at this point, your options are, you know, you basically be, you know, rejecting their deal. And then it's like, "No, not only are we rejecting this deal, you're not taking this into account." She, right there, Liara, she is freelance. She was obviously called in to handle a certain situation. You think she's gonna just say, "Alright, well, I'll go back to doing what I wanna do." She's gonna send her... So you're dealing with a reality where you've already killed Carter. No, we're dealing with a reality where we take the deal and we get hunted down.

No, that's not... If we get hunted down after that, they go for their work. She's a freelance vampire hunter, so she's gonna do what the people paying her are gonna tell her to do. I'm saying, like, you could easily say, "Well, I never gave her any money or anything like that." She just hunts you down in her own free will. Well, here, hold on. So Malkus will turn around and say, "Hey, are you in this for the pleasure or are you on their payroll?" And she tells you she's being paid very well to both protect the mayor and... If you're asking her if she took pleasure in shooting at the vampire, yeah.

But, I mean, that's not... That was just kind of... But you have no further interest if the pay is no longer there? No, there's no reason to. There's no "Why endanger her life for no money?" Okay, Malkus nods and turns back to the group and says, "All we can have is her word, but that's her word." But again, if she hunts you down, then that's a violation of their treaty. See, you all are on the honor system, essentially. Yeah, if she hunts us down in their employ, they've broken their treaty. If she hunts us down alone, the six of us will put her in a body bag, alright?

I'm sure she would have other people. But then we'll just beat her until she bursts open like the experience point pinata she is. Has any other people given us problems thus far? Let's just take the deal and go. Let's take a vote if you have to. No, votes never work. Never? There's six of us. There'll end up in three and three. Well, somebody's down in the basement. He's down in the lead. Hey, guess what? We voted a long time ago that we were gonna leave Overdale and never look back. And here we are. Technically, you've never returned to Overdale. Yes, yeah. That's when we assault the treaty.

I'd love to keep it that way. I think that we should take the deal. Yep. That's a one. That's a two. Is there anyone that thinks we should fight it out? I haven't heard an argument for the fight. Yeah, I've never heard anyone say that. I told you before, if we let them go here, they will do whatever they want in the south. And they will try as hard as they can to get us back down there so they are looked at as... You guys are assuming a lot. Yeah, we're not... I'm not saying we should fight, but I think we could win this fight. Like, if we ever wanted to fight, I think now is the time.

If we never plan to fight, I say we let them go. What happens when we kill their fucking mayor and their captain, their guard, then we just leave them like inmates running the asylum. We should just go and... No, then we send Padraig down there and he... And exits Overdale? Again, you're assuming a lot. Like, the guy owes you a lot, but he's like, "So we're taking over and you're on board, right?" If something so bad happens in Overdale that it's earth-shattering to the point that we're called back, we'll either be not high enough level to deal with it, or high enough level that town guards are nothing to us.

As far as arguments go, and that's even an in-world argument. If something big enough happens there, either we as adventurers are not powerful enough to handle it, or we as adventurers are powerful enough to basically ignore town guards and kill Cthulhu. That's basically the two reasons we could come back there. And I'm comfortable with... Like Jason just said, there are other people in the world, other heroes, other freedom fighters, all of their own concepts. Other cities. I'm... Other cities, yeah. I'm happy to say this portion of the planet is no longer my business.

Unless I'm saving the planet. Close the chapter. Okay. I was... Yeah, that sounds fine. Mm-hmm. Justin, can we get you on board? I still feel that this is a big mistake. I do want to say one thing, though. Blue. How... Like, I would like to ask Carter how much you're paying Liara to actually, like... To round up all these people, all these... Well, she wasn't doing any of the rounding up. She was there? She was... She was traveling. Alright, then. Like, hunting us down. Like, like, like, like, wanting to kill us. How much, like... She's getting paid... What would you pay me?

I want to sound good. I know where you are. I'm punching myself right in the face. Like, obviously you're getting... You just said you're getting paid very well. Then why is it you feel as though, like... You just need to, like... Leave, like, silver swords inside your, uh... Inside your wagon and just abandon it. At that point I do want to pat the silver sword that I have. Oh, so you're taunting her. Okay, okay. So the entire point of that... I thought it was an actual question. I'm like, what are you... It's not like she, like, just got out of the carriage and walked away.

Like, it was... Oh my... Are you... I just see someone drawing an overlay on me. Someone sizing it up. I was just checking my fireball, that's all. Checking my fireball. Just in case. Oh my gosh. Oh man, this... Just a backup plan. I'm surprised we've gotten this far without a fight. I am proud of you guys. So far. I'm gonna shoot Malchus just without a fight. This is the first time I think Malchus has been allowed to negotiate something and have it go peacefully. Like... Okay, I think that's the thing that's blown my mind, is, like, I... I don't know. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it can't happen.

It just means that it hasn't happened yet. And again, you guys usually have a policy of shoot first, shoot later, and then when everyone's dead, try and ask a question or two. That's not true, it's just a role screw up. Not to mention... Not to mention, if they decide to break the treaty, it's not like we can't just come back and start wrecking some ass. Yeah, let's go. Basically, here's your thing in a nutshell. Right. That didn't provoke her into doing anything. I'm gonna describe that now. I said it quietly enough though that she wasn't listening. No, he's talking about the sword thing.

She knows she can't fire on you, but she absolutely narrows her eyes at you. To be fair to our normal negotiation skills, it's usually based on roles that usually turn out terrible. Right. Well, that's why I didn't want to put this completely in the hands of fate. I wanted, you know, but... This is your situation, basically. Every time you guys get into a room with this guy, your general thinking is, "Well, if we kill him now, we won't have to worry about it later." So the last time you guys were in a room alone with him, you had the chance to let Thor rip his throat out.

You didn't. He manipulated you at that point. And now he's got a posse. And then the next time you see him, he'll have an army. And the next time... But, I mean, it's not... Well, the entire country. You don't have to ever run into him again. It's up to you. It's completely up to you. Either the way we don't have to run into him, either we kill him here and end this for good, or we let him go again and odds are he'll come back after something else. But who's to say that it's going to end for good if we kill their leader? They could very well just end up getting a new one and then...

This isn't like Star Wars where we blow up the Death Star and then forget that there's an entire empire behind it. Well, the other thing you'd have to deal with is the consequences of attacking these people in Winterhaven. And maybe that'll get them to think, "Oh, well, maybe these guys are just fucking murderers. They offered you a deal and you chose to attack them instead of taking." That's why we were talking about provoking... Getting them to provoke... Right. I... Look, like I already said, I'm fine either way. Dean, were you saying you didn't understand Malchus' position or, like, why he's doing what he's doing?

Who, me? Or that, like... That was to Dan. Oh, sorry. When? Like, what Malchus' argument was. That Malchus would be willing to never go after... Go to Overdale again no matter what bad... No, well, I understand that. It's a... It's just a... I don't know. It's a gut thing. It is a instinct for me playing at this point to, you know, to look at it from all angles. And... You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm fine either way. I really... I was just playing a little devil's advocate a while ago. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Where does Bree live? She lives in a fucking dirt village.

She lives in a patch of forest near the swamps of Yemgar, which is well within the jurisdiction of Overdale. Oh, so it's in there? It's well within their... It's in their forest, yeah. Okay. I may have to not take the roads if I want to check on the child, but we don't have to bring that up. Yeah, I mean, like, that is their territory, right? Right, right. And if I decide to see how the child is doing, I will not take the roads and I will travel through the swamps and... See, and that's the kind of thing that I look at, is like, how is this gonna bait us back in?

Yeah, but that... Yeah, that's the thing, is like, do you want to bring it up for them as possible, like... No, Malchus, bring it up in character. Not at all. Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. What if that's it? We, like, I was just saying, I want something. I want, you know, we need something to show a goodwill gesture or something here. To show that there's gonna be peace. What if we bring Bree and her family to Winterhaven and we're allowed to do so, and that be... What if we ask for that? We will stay away from you if you give us that.

But we don't even know if they want to leave. At least be able to ask the question. I don't... I think their goodwill gesture is not dragging you out in shackles. We have no leverage to press for that. And... That's leverage. Also, you're assuming you'll live through this fight. Malchus is pretty sure that Overdale... Have we even talked to... Yes, but we're also assuming that you're gonna be a son of a bitch later on and you're gonna use Bree as fodder for us having to come back and fight. Make a story telling... That's the fun of it, let's go. I don't know why you'd assume that.

Why have I gotten this reputation? This is what I don't get. They come here, they give us the ultimatum of never come back to Overdale. If we take this, then we are looked at like we're guilty. Because we're accepting their demands. We're also not hounding for the rest of our lives by guards and witch hunters. Yeah, that's the thing. The interesting thing was I just don't want to be chased anymore. You're giving you an option not to be chased anymore. It's like, no, fuck that. Let's explore this. But Jarek was never interested in not being chased. Yeah, well...

I think taking the deal is the best thing because if we fight them, then we're gonna look guilty as it is. Actually, furthermore, if Jarek's making any of these arguments in character, Malchus says to Jarek, "If you choose to fight these people, you walk this road without me." I don't know what you see when you look across. There are six elite guards and these guys aren't like town guards. They're elite guards that have been tasked. Should have had different... I see the same oafish fucks. Right, but if you hover over them... Primo stuff, that's what it says.

Right, and then you have one of your former friends there who have been recruited specifically for the task of protecting Carter. And then you have a vampire huntress who, again, has been... This guy has walked in knowing full well what might happen. The last time you sat down with him, you tried to kill him. Whether it be involuntary or whatever, you gotta imagine this guy's state of mind. Like, "I don't wanna die." But at the same time, he feels slighted. You didn't respect his authority in the city. Malchus looks at the rest of the party and says, "As far as I'm concerned, this is done.

If anyone needs me, I'll be drinking." And Malchus walks up to them and says, "I accept your deal." And if nobody stops him, Malchus steps out of the building. No one stops you. Malchus is stepped out. The rest of the conversation is up to you guys. Malchus is stepped out. Alright. He's done that dealer thing that they do in Vegas, and he's like, "Oh, nothing up my sleeve." And they have no idea what you're talking about, because this is a different place and different world. The fuck was that? Gang signs! Tiefling gang signs. Troubled youth. Man, I expected more.

Okay, we're good. Let's go. Well, we could still roll initiative if you want. No, it just seems so weird that it's like so much of the past five sessions have been based on this, and here we are, and it's like, "We'll let you go if you want, okay? Peace." And then it's over. It's gonna come back to us later. Let's go. I feel like this is extremely tense. I feel thoroughly rewarded for all the trouble we've gotten. I bring back a guy who hasn't been on the podcast in like six months. No, no, no, that's cool. I set up a situation. No, hold on. And then you complain because I might rope you back in, and then you complain because you think it's over.

Pick one. No, no, no. No, listen. The situation's really cool. I love the... everything works. It seems like our party, though, isn't being consistent. What are you talking about? I gave. I didn't give a shit about the racial stuff and the... and Jarek's idea of, you know, the town not being run correctly and the slavery and the people being taken in. I was like, "Let's move. Let's book. Let's do it." And then, like, suddenly here we are in a situation where we can do something about it, and it's like, "Well, if you're gonna leave us alone, we'll go." It doesn't seem consistent to the party.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, on our part, it doesn't seem consistent. What's consistent with you guys is murder. We murder things like vampires and giant, like, bridge trolls that want to claim... Well, everything's not black and white. And people we disagree with. Yeah. Do you want... Malchus... Well, I guess I can't tell you... Malchus is... Yeah, no, I can't give you Malchus's name, but later, Dan, if Rodswell asks Malchus, Malchus can justify himself, so he'll be happy to do so. Okay, like I said, I'm either... Malchus has got to stop these dramatic exits so that he can't explain himself.

I know, I love the conversation. He always leaves on this badass note, and then someone's like, "Hey, someone should have asked him to get milk on the way back." Like, I'm neither here nor there. I'm just... Rodswell himself is confused. It seemed like we had this higher purpose, and now we're taking it out. And that's my thing, is like, as a character... They hand us, it's like, "We will take this!" And I don't care, like, people are saying, like, "I'll tell you what, we will not, we will no longer call ourselves Winterhaven Knights." That's where we're from, right?

Winterhaven. It's like, "We will rip off our badge of Winterhaven Knights, and we will storm out of here and say, 'You won this round!'" In order to save lives, that's why that was proposed, I believe. Yeah. Please save lives by also killing vampires and other assholes that want to quit. Everything's not a vampire you can punch in the face. Some problems are more political. Here's the deal. If the problem hasn't been solved with Green Flame Plate, you haven't used enough Green Flame Plate yet. I think, before Dan says something, I think for at least Thoril, like, it's fairly consistent for him to at least take this.

Because, especially since turning into a vampire, like, Thoril hasn't given a shit about anybody else. He barely gives a shit about the people that he's around. Really, it's just him and himself. And so I've left, and I've left angrily and confused, because I feel baited into a whole situation that I had nothing to do with, that now it seems like we're abandoning. So that is where I've left now. Right. Okay, um, as Jarek, I'm gonna leave also, uh, I tell you... Your band is falling apart, guy. I tell you that you do whatever you want. I am completely and utterly disenfranchised with this group.

I think you seriously lost your way, anybody who even thinks about taking this deal. And the wonders are in breach of contract. No one gets that reference, that's okay. Oh, I get it. Oh, no, I got it. They didn't even say anything. I quit. And so I guess the other two are just like, eh, and they walk out. Well, I walk up to the group, uh, spit on the floor, and exit as well. Yeah, he lost his wife's sister. Whatever. You know? Well, no, no, it's alright. And maybe kill the guy. We don't know yet. I think, whatever. If he wanted to, it's... So, you guys, does the world come out of the basement at that point and just walk behind?

Wait, wait. I think I'll just... I go down to the basement, grab some care and I'm out, and everybody's like, "Why?" Wait, we can't, really, 'cause it's daytime. Harry Potter was in the cupboard the entire time? That's terrible. Here's what I'm gonna say, too. I think we... You left! No, outside. We need to talk this shit over. Before we end this session. Okay. So, okay. You guys have taken this deal and... Okay, let me move my character physically to show that I've thrown on my robes and I'm outside, covered completely. Well, okay, let's say that everyone's pretty much gone and after the deal was taken they had no reason to be in Winterhaven and they ride away.

If you guys wanna reconvene at a bar, something like that, and talk this out... I imagine it's a very quiet table. Lots of scowling going on. On the one hand, you guys are free. No more wanted posters, no more guards looking for you on the roads, you're free to travel. Not what they want! They have freedom of their realm. It's not over yet, nobody won. What this means is, whatever they wanna do with the arena, with capturing people that are different, like tieflings, they're free to go. That was the old mayor. We have a new mayor and one of your old friends running shit.

So not only you're saying that you don't have any faith in this guy, which I could understand. Your ex-partner, your friend is side by side with him. But their ex-partner and their friend also sat there and took the side of someone he didn't even know and assumed that we were all murderers and killers after spending time with us. He was around the mayor as long as he was around the other group. That's not true. He was there long enough to become captain of the guard. Here's the thing. I've been saying captain of the guard now for a while, you guys have just been assuming Ian.

Up until the point where we've done this. Everyone just kept assuming Ian, Ian, and Ian. I never once said that it was him, I kept waiting for you guys to ask questions about it. Because I kind of thought one of you would say "Oh, I thought he lost his hand!" or something like that. No one said a thing. He did, but he had a metal hand and he was lost. Because, wait, the only time we asked about captain of the guard you said he was gone. Oh, that was a while back though. That's the last time it came up, right? Nope, last two sessions I've mentioned captain of the guard and you never once questioned it.

I don't know what that guy is. Well, yeah, so that's just something I'm throwing in there. This wasn't something we orchestrated in a week. We've been talking about this for two months, me and Jay. We probably never asked the question because we just assumed it would be some schlub. There was no reason to ask, so it's neither here nor there. Right, but yeah, you're free to go after the treasures of the book now. You're completely free to do that. You're uninhibited. The shackles are off. You're free to travel along the road as long as it's not south to Overdale.

You're fine. Or, because it's getting a little late, so you want to wrap it up now or do you want to have a conversation about what just happened? I'm ready for a conversation. Put us in a bar or something. In a nice, dimly lit bar, even though it's- We can actually go back to the last map because there was a place that looked like a bar. Fine, we can do that. Is everyone just sitting quietly around a table eyeing one another angrily? Malchus just says, "Well, I feel liberated." I said we sit on Malchus' side, so it would depend on who is on whose side.

Jesus Christ. Because obviously there's two teams here. This is great for the listening bodies. So many bodies. Of course, yes. On the stairs. So you guys have the bar to yourself after requesting it? We start madly jerking off. What do you mean our territory? How is that in every episode? How is that in- We're very young adventurers. Malchus, get in here. Thank you. You're the sauce. So it's a dimly lit bar, even though it's the middle of the day. Windows and shutters are shut to make way for Thoril, basically. And you guys have free run of the bar. The only other person in the place is a female bartender who will bring you whatever you want on the house.

I'm not going to lie, I feel a bit disenfranchised right now. How so? Well, I feel like you kind of rallied the troops here quite a bit, and then the second you found a way out, you took it. I was totally going one way in terms of "let's go after the book, let's do it." And then after seeing your reaction to the way they acted and whatnot, you really had me convinced. I stuck up for you and took your side on that whole thing. And then the second that Trayus walks in and gives you an out, you literally left. You literally walked out the door. You killed all conversation and walked right out, sealing.

You're not dependent on me to continue negotiating on your own. I just told you that I wasn't willing to fight. My question is, though, is that with how much you were sickened by everything that you saw, you got me thinking your way. And I was a third party. It's disenfranchising to see it. I just want you to explain yourself. Disembodied voice jumps in. I just want to say that's one thing. Being disgusted by something and having the power to change it, kind of two separate things, but that's it. I'm flying the wall. What are you talking about? I'm out. I'm gone.

That was the bartender. Hot ass bartender. She was, too. That's her voice. She's got a deep voice, but that's... Excuse me. She... It was one thing to make those complaints in the field. It was another entirely when I realized that Winterhaven's destiny was tied to my destiny. If I behaved in such a way that brought ruin on Winterhaven, I would never be able to forgive myself. This is the first place that has not just offered me belonging, but offered me privilege. But offered... that offered me public glory. They love me here. I cannot bring ruin upon them.

And... Had that in overdale until they decided to take that off the table. Do you... do you trust Trayus that much? I don't know. And if you do, I will believe you. I'll understand. But when I... I heard nothing that convinced me that he was still the man that you guys described. We can't fix everything. That's the problem. Anything we would have done that would have led to more bloodshed would have taken us down a path to ruin. We would have been pursued. The wanted posters would have traveled further. We would have had no sanctuary for the rest of our lives.

We wouldn't have traveled any farther if we just ended it today. It wouldn't have ended here. If we would have killed... If we would have killed their leader, the Vampire Hunter, their guards in Winterhaven's walls... It would have destroyed this place. And it would have... We would never have been able to hide anywhere. Guys, I got... I see both sides, okay? Both sides. I agree with stuff on either side, but those were elite guards. There were six elite guards there. We had the vampire slaying bitch over there. We had... I have no idea who that other guy was.

I don't know what he's capable of. And there's six of us. We had our vampire down in the basement. Thor was down in the basement. I think that it would have been an overwhelming fight. Drakonas, this isn't about a fight. I could have taken or leaving the fight. It's about a principle. This is about... You guys wanna help? No, I didn't wanna kill any... I was following whatever you guys wanted to do. But I... When I was being sold on the prospect of doing it in the first place, I was told something. And I wanna see if I'm talking to the same person. You weren't around.

And I understand that you don't understand. Oh, yeah, I agree. I'm just saying, to kill them would have been an overwhelming task. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And they were saying that they would pursue us at that... That if we were not to accept their deal, they would be pursuing us. They gave us the option of a trial. Yeah, like that would have gone down well. Malkus just like gestures up at his horns and says, "Do you think I would be offered a fair trial?" Jarek, I wanna point out that this whole thing started because Jarek wanted to get in front of the town.

A trial would have gotten us in front of the town. He sure would. We also left for... We also left, so that made us look guilty right off the bat. He had nothing but time to talk into their ear about how evil we are and how we tried to kill him. When he first wanted to get in front of the town, we at least had a little bit of leverage. We at least had a little bit of pull and some say. And we probably would have been able to convince some people. We don't have that anymore. Once more, we could have fought it when it was him and a few elite guards. And we could have been done with this and we could have told the people, "Hey, this is what our side of the story is." We left.

People like Malek gave that up. Who's Malek? I'm sorry. Malek. Do you know why else I didn't take the trial? Why? Because we are guilty. By their laws, we are absolutely guilty of executing vigilante justice, slaying people across their town without any right. We're guilty by their laws. The trial would have made that abundantly clear. At this point, submitting to that would have been as good as saying, "Place me in shackles." I guess, coming as who I am, I had the opportunity. I could have stayed in that town and not had any problems. But I followed you. I followed this crew because I believed there was a purpose.

I just want to make sure that you're not a bad... I understand your take on Winterhaven, but as you said, you could have very easily taken yourself away from the town. It just seems like your ideals have been compromised. You inspired me to follow you and to join you and to help you because of your ideals. What I saw back there didn't seem like the same person. Or tiefling, I apologize. No, person does not mean human. You can use person. Okay, yes. I'm sorry I've let you down, Rod Swell. It's not that I lack my principles anymore. It's that this was a fight that we could not win.

That even if... Who said that they get to go back and tell their people that they were right about us? Who kept making that argument? Jarek. Jarek? Okay. Jarek was right that they get to go home and say that we are exactly the vile things that they claimed we were. But at the end of the day, Winterhaven is safer. We don't have to hack and slash our way through a sea of town guards, probably just innocent men doing their duty. What would we do? And furthermore, the new government has said that they are not interested in continuing the practice of slavery. Isn't that correct?

If they're remaining... If they're continuing to act in that fashion as time goes on, then they've broken their word and that's another thing entirely. But if they are no longer interested in continuing the practice of slavery... So their ideals don't bother you? The fact that he... Carter himself admitted that when he looked at you, he saw nothing. And when he looked at Thoril, he saw a beast. And you people... You're my friends. I've developed relationships with all of you. Except maybe the... Draconis. Yep. I came in here in the same mindset that he was in and you've changed my mind.

I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that you could have changed theirs. And it kind of disappoints me to see us give up on that. If he... If I stand trial, he thinks me a beast in prison. If I fight him, he thinks me a beast in death. If I accept this bargain, he thinks me a beast on the run. I thought you were... I thought you were a beast and you proved me wrong. Why can't we prove them wrong? Because all of the outlets we were given do nothing to prove them wrong. All of them. Think about it. In what circumstance that we were offered do I actually prove him wrong about myself?

I don't know. But that's never stopped you before. Why did you even... Why were you even with us when we bit, not us personally, there was only one person that did this, but bit the hands off of those intruders to our home? Painted them black. I like Tom in the background. This involves me. Shit. Painted them black and then shipped them over there. You knew very well that they were going to attack us when we showed up. Why were you even agreeing with us to do that? Because, like I said in that room, we kill bad people. I'm not arguing against that. We're guilty by their laws, but I stand by what we did.

We killed criminals and assassins. That's justified. What I'm saying is I'm not willing to go to jail because I have more bad people to kill. This is why in our profession we'll always struggle to stay in lawful environs. Any city we go into we will struggle to fit in. Winterhaven has been a wild aberration in that regard. That we are not only accepted, but knighted. But what happens the second they don't need us? What we did in Overdale we thought we were doing for good and it ended up causing havoc and leading us to this. And now we expect Winterhaven because, yes, we've done good for them, but you were cast away from here before.

And to believe that it's not going to happen again just because we really hope so. I'll tell you what, the first time I met Carter he seemed alright. You know, and from what I heard you guys were pretty, you know, he was kind of your out at the time. He saved you. And I just, I think we just need to get away completely now because I don't want to look at anyone. If we're forced one day to walk from Winterhaven I will do so sadly. But for the time being, this is the best, most secure life I have ever had. Alright, I'm looking at it this way. What just happened and what could have been like maybe an hour of us talking to Carter, he looks at us as murderers, right?

Is anybody disputing that? He looks at us like monsters. What's he going to look at Winterhaven? Because they're giving us safe passage. But he gave us his word. If need be I'll defend Winterhaven to the death. At that point- That's what you just did. By you storming out after a dramatic speech, you stormed out by yourself, sealing all of our fates, all of our deals with this argument. You took away our argument and we now, at least one of us has to stay here to make sure this town doesn't get overrun by invaders. They have no reason to attack Winterhaven.

That's costly and fruitless for them. Furthermore, they don't seem the conquering type. Well, I mean secondly they'd be attacking a walled fort with their own train guards. But Jason, you have made the point over and over again that Overdale is a bigger operation in Winterhaven. It's a bigger- Yes, they're a larger city. They have more people. That doesn't mean they have more soldiers. They have town guards and they're not used to- I mean, you encountered their town guards on the road. What happened? I mean, they're great at pushing around people who probably can't defend themselves very well or just common citizens.

The butcher or something like that. It's like, "Oh, the butcher's here. Let's beat up the butcher." That kind of thing. But you're talking about overthrowing an entire city. No one wants that is the thing. That's what you're not getting. It's not like, "Oh, they're going to roll up on the doorstep one day." It's not something anyone wants because everyone loses. I was just saying I don't think they have the motivation to go after Winterhaven. I don't think that's their instinct. That's what they want. I don't think so. They said they wouldn't attack us. Correct.

It just seems too good to be true. You guys are really hung up on what might happen down the road someday. Well, I believe we won't get attacked. I believe that we're safe. I believe all this. Like I said, I'm feeling less like it now, but at the time I felt like I was being sold a bill of goods. If Malchus tells me that he trusts Tracius and if Malchus tells me his reasoning, from what I've heard, I believe him. I will continue to support this party and travel along with you and do those things. At the time, I felt like I was more invested in it than the person who sold me on the concept.

But like I said, I fully understand now that I've had it explained to me. And, well, and, and, and, Rodswell, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I assure you the principles still stand. It's that I have to fight a fight that I can win. And if we end up leaving a trail of dead bodies of town guards in our wake, that's not a battle we win. That's ruin, ultimately. And furthermore, it doesn't solve anything. I can't, it is probably better that I attempt to change their opinions of me by doing great things at a distance because I cannot step into their town and try to change them face to face.

It was going nowhere. One of my first impressions of you was as we were talking to Carter last time, and you got so angry at the thought of what he was saying and in his closed mindedness that you stormed out of the room and that you chose not to be a part of that. And that is part of what drove me back to the situation. I felt like I disappointed you at that point. And I disappointed everyone by not being able to reach a compromise. Then this whole thing could have been avoided had I been able to, and it wasn't. I felt like I owed more than to just get us out of harm's way.

And now we're here, and we're safe. And if that's enough, then I feel we can move on. Can I say something? Yes, sir. As far as my opinion goes on the deal that we took, that was the only option that we had that got everyone out of harm's way for now. And that sounds better than having anyone die to me. I think, like I said, by your passion, I believe that you had the best intentions and that you still are the same person that you were. I don't know if we can earn that same trust with Jarek. I guess Malkus looks at Jarek at that point. Well, is this true?

Justin? No, I'm here. Okay. I don't know. I don't know what's going on in this group anymore. Like we had a chance to solve this. Oh, man, wire and this headphones are coming off. We had a chance to end this. To some people, I guess we did for a bit for now or maybe for good. So just say if anything happens in those borders again, it's obvious that we can't go back and save that girl once more. So or anybody in that region. So they have town guards. They have a captain. Let's hope that's enough. I don't think it means we can never go back. That does. Until further until further word, we can't go back.

Well, I mean, yes, we can't go back. Say we can't go back without putting up a fight. But it means that if we do go back, we need to understand the cost very clearly. Yes. Yeah, never is kind of a broad kind of saying, like never legally unless you go back. There's like time to stab. It's not like we can't get another crack at talking to Father Martin again. Yeah, you guys have already ironed that out that they would be willing to have another caucus or whatever you want to call it, another sit down. But I mean, the bottom line is you guys finished an entire session with Nari a dice roll, Nari.

No, we did dice rolls. Yeah, but that was not nothing I asked for. You guys are just entertaining yourselves. No, I think there's one nineteen out of one hundred. This sucks. There was one for there was one. You're right. We will. Yes. But yeah, I mean, the bottom line is you solved a problem without murder. Yeah, I think we're growing. You guys a little bit. And now, like some of us just don't want to be around each other. That's what breaks up the group. You guys solving. We didn't kill anything. There's no blood on my plate. I mean, we solved the problem for us.

Well, you guys could have. I mean, being selfish would have been having a fight in the middle of the town that harbored you, that supported you. You guys didn't take that route. So I think Malthus realized that that to pursue his principles right here, right now in this venue. Would have been exactly what Jason is saying, like exceptionally selfish. And, you know, like you said, Winter Winter Haven, Winter Haven is a place that offers him a sense of belonging. He's not ready to put those people at stake also. And I guess I'll furthermore, Malthus will make sure to make this point in character.

We've agreed legally never to go back into Overdale's borders. It doesn't mean we'll never go back into Overdale's borders. The time comes if it is necessary. If if the cost of not going in there is high enough. I will be the first to step across that line. What would be what would cause you to step over that line? What would it take for you to finally take action against them? I wish I could tell you. I suppose I'll know it when I see it. You're welcome. You're welcome to propose a situation. We can play this game all day. There's plenty of alcohol. Dragons everywhere.

There's dragons everywhere. Tax free weekend. What? Sorry, I just that just clicked. I was I was in serious mode. Overdale is a fantastic duty free shop. What if a few weeks go by and like we go do this book. We come back and it turns out they're accepting slaves again for the arena. Then we we call another summit and say the fuck, bro. It's not a lot of what was said is your region is your region. We'll leave you alone. I was calling the summit saying, hey, your region is your region. You can do whatever you want, but don't do whatever you made certain promises, just like you made certain promises.

If they're breaking them, then, you know, it's like I said, you guys can talk all day about what might happen down the road. And in doing that, you're going to miss stuff that's going to happen. Like I'm I'm I'm I'm really glad you guys talked it out. I don't know if anything got solved, but that's going to be pretty much the session for today, because it's 1030 now to get anything else would be kind of pointless. So I guess the next time we sit down, you guys in between then and now, you guys need to figure out what you'd like to do. It looks like it's like the last question our journal seems to be the the book.

Oh, there's always other shit. You guys can go out and explore you. I mean, there's tons of stuff. I want to try and get this map done so you can see exactly where you are in the world. As long as we don't go south. As long as you don't go south. There's I mean, that doesn't mean that you can't sneak around either. There's I mean, there's the King's Road, which is a north south. No, no, no, no. We're not going to go south. Well, I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you what's up. But yeah. You guys got through an entire session without killing anything. How much experience did we gain?

None. You should get a lie. This is big for us. That's the thing that killing things is not the only way to get experience in D&D and solving a problem diplomatically sometimes gets you more. How much money did I get this session? Oh, no money. Oh, OK. No money. We're broke, man. We're broke. Yeah, it's. Yeah, you guys. How much was that pair of boots? It was like like fifteen hundred gold. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. I got a fifty left. This the sucky thing is like I know Tom's itching to use that new ax. He's got I know he's itching to use it and like everyone got new gear and everyone's ready to get new moves and like this tomorrow.

I'll be at work tomorrow night. Sadly, I don't know when the next time I'm sleeping. Tyler, maybe. Well, we have two weekends before WrestleMania. Tell me that's not Tyler snoring into the mic problem. Thor. Tyler, you son of a bitch. You're asleep. OK, well, I guess the session's over either way. You have to wake him up because he's got to go to work soon. It's our responsibility. It's our job. OK, Tyler. Yes, we said. There you go. See, he's up. You guys said he was asleep. Yeah, he was. I know he was. But it's a storm. I don't know how long debate. And I know a little sleep.

I know. I was about to say I like Thor. Didn't chime in at all, which is fine for your character. But I just didn't want it to be like, well, it's one o'clock. He wakes up, oh shit. Oh, God. Thanks for your D&D fucking session. I just got fired. Next weekend, I am going to PAX East. And I looked at the schedule. There's a shitload of Dungeons & Dragons stuff. Is there anything you guys would like me to check out or see what's going on or see what's up? It's probably D&D Next stuff, I would imagine. Like that's the next edition that's coming out. Yeah, look, there's like tons of different screenings.

And they have their own booth and all kinds of stuff. I mean, certainly I'd be happy to hear it from you. Like whatever you go see about the new edition. Awesome. [music fades out]