Until We Meet Again

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

[coughing] Peacocks. This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else. Um, I think they mean us. Oh, ****. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. -You're the Marine? -Yeah. -You're the ex-con. -Yeah, I did time, but you only gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs.

Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. -It's your first job? -I know what I'm doing. It's a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! -What are you doing? -Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+. Episode 130 of the DNR Podcast is brought to you today by Noble Knight Games. Guys, go to nobleknight.com. Getting your own game night together has never been more affordable. Right now you can save tons and tons of money off featured products at nobleknight.com.

Plus, you can find over 50,000 other products if you wanted to. Right now you can go to their featured page and save $10 off of Out of the Abyss, the brand new 5th edition Wizards of the Coast book that just came out. Save $10 right off the top. So do yourself a favor, if you got a game night going or you want to get one going and you want to save a bunch of money, go to nobleknight.com and treat yourself. Let's do that thing where we get ready to go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Jasper.

Hey, this is Jasper. I play Maric Ethelred, Human Cleric. And Mac. Hey, I'm Mac and I play Kaluna Volgares, the Wild and Shaman. -And Jamie. -Hi, I'm Jamie. I play Kori Forcekeeper, the Goliath Seeker. And Bree. Hi, I'm Brianna. I play Judsy Grace, the Human Warlock. -And Izzy. -Hi, I'm Izzy and I play Una, the Half-Elf Paladin. So let's pick things up the very next day. I'm imagining it's fairly early morning. And what would everyone be doing here? What would... I'm sure Maric would be doing something in the kitchen and maybe... I don't know. I have this idea that Maric's a little bit despondent.

He doesn't know what to do with himself. He's so used to trying to meditate or calm himself down. But I think he's kind of realizing that he doesn't have to deal with that as much anymore. So I think he's kind of wandering around in his head a little bit. -But probably just kind of screw around. -How could I not a mindless killing machine? -My life is so empty. -Yeah, I know. Well, you know, imagine. Actually, that's a good question. Like, how many... How much time would that add to Maric's day? I would expect... I mean, I know it's been kind of haphazard for months with traipsing around Theria and all sorts of fights and cool stuff.

But I think whenever he gets a second to relax, he basically does the Jedi thing where he just sits on the ground and meditates. -OK. -It's not quite like the Jedi. He's really doing it out of preventative. He's like, "If I don't do this, I'm going to have sex." -Sure. -The Jedi can't. -That's a big thing. -Oh, right. -That's a huge difference. -Sure, Jason. -Let's talk about that. -Except for the ones that do. But seriously, let's talk about some Maric sex. -Right. OK. Well... -We got no fan fiction for that. -I'm a little... -That's true. -I'll write some up for you.

-Thank you. I've got a bunch of it I can send you immediately. No, I think it would actually be for him very much like he has free time on his hands because he's so used to thinking about taking a break or trying to calm himself down or just trying to prepare himself for the day because he doesn't know how the days are going to go. Even whenever he's with his friends and Kaluna and everybody, he doesn't know what's going to happen to set him off. And so now I think he's trying to learn how to let go. -OK. -So I think he's probably doing exactly what he would normally do, but there's a part of his brain that's just...

He's kind of milling around, kind of like biting, making time, I guess. OK. What about Corey? I think Corey is probably sort of still a little frazzled from the night before, but she's a bit more composed. She's trying to keep herself together at the moment. What would Kaluna be doing? Kaluna would still be annoyed with Maric for treating him like a child yesterday. So they're not hovering around him like they normally do their outside sunbathing. He's like, "Yeah." -Photosynthesizing. -Yeah, that's happy. I was thinking more like a cat, you know, just doing it for fun, not for...

-Oh, just sunning. -Yeah, just like chilling. I'm just glad you make so much oxygen. Like, that's great. It's just nice for the air. It's fantastic. So is this like an aggressive... Like, is it just for fun? Is it more out of spite? Like, you're spite sunning. Just like, "I'm not gonna hang around you today." Just keep looking over your shoulder to make sure that Maric knows you're not hanging around. No, it's more of just like, "Well, he was a jerk to me yesterday, so I'm just not gonna hang out with him. I'm gonna go and do stuff for myself instead. Suck it." What about Jatsuya?

Jatsuya probably would have wanted to wake up early and then go to what she does have in her library and kind of thumb through it, even though she knows gods wasn't so much of Darmok's deal, whatever Darmok's deal was. But she'll still kind of thumb through what she does have on record. Well, we know Una's out at the moment, so that's either taking a walk, maybe just probably just getting out of the house for a while, maybe feeling a little trapped. Do me a favor, everyone who's in the house right now, roll a Perception check for me. -28. -24. But then I...

Okay, I'm taking the first one, 24. Suck it, bitches. -Damn. -Nice. Even though the second roll is much more Jatsuya, yeah, totally good for that person. Rude. -I'm called for. -Valice is the same way. Also, I like that Jamie and I rolled the exact same number, but I have 11 less. -You have 11? -[laughs] Let me roll for Valice. -Hey. -Eh. We're perceptive. Sure. Everyone in the house is going to hear a knocking on the door, and it's not frantic, but it does sound... It sounds a little more urgent than someone just kind of visiting. I guess Jatsuya would put the book down, and then she'll look over at Valice and say, "I should go get that before someone knocks it down again." And then she's going to go downstairs and I'll open the door. [chuckles] Before we even know who it is, I think at this point, Merrick's just using...

Because this keeps happening, right? It's like early morning and somebody bangs on the door, and then somebody opens it up. He's going to go ahead and have some tea ready, and he's going to be walking in towards the door, ready for whoever it is. -All right. -So Jatsuya opening the door would see Julie. And she's got a book in hand. It's like a Scooby snack. [chuckles] She would, again, like... It's not a shocker to see everyone kind of congregating in the living area. Just a quick head nod, and she would... not barge into the house, but kind of dispatching with the pleasantries of like, "Oh, can I come in?" And I have things to share.

Just not trying to be rude, just time is of the essence. Jatsuya's going to mumble something under her breath that no one can hear, but they hear the words, "Runs in the family," as she closes the door. [both chuckle] And she'll follow Julie, because books are involved. I really should. [laughs] No need. You can if you want. I... I feel like I would start an argument. [both chuckle] Is she just standing? Is she just sort of like hanging out, standing? As soon as she crosses the threshold, she kind of hold up the book. All right, I found some things I need to share with all of you.

So she's just standing there, and she just said something. He's going to calmly motion for her to have a seat. Like, you know, let's all have a seat. And then if she sits down, he's going to just put the tea in front of her on the table. Yeah, she would go and sit down and just kind of give one of those friendlies, like, "Oh, thanks," just kind of a head nod, and then reach for the tea and start sipping on it. Just because I know it's in Jodzia's character, could I maybe roll something to see if I can... Like, she's following Julie to sit down, but as they're sitting down, she's clearly paying attention to the book, and she would like to see what the book is.

-Sure. -But she's not asking. She's just kind of lifting her head, trying to read the author or see if she recognizes the cover or something. Please do me a favor. Roll a Perception check. I knew you were going to say that, Jason. Why you got to hurt me this way? -Oh! -Thirteen! Oh! That's not a whore. It's over ten. That's good for me. [LAUGHS] Yeah, it's not 35, but... We can't all have plus 17s. Check your Goliath privilege. [LAUGHTER] [LAUGHS] -Excuse you. -Hello. Yeah, Jadzi's not going to recognize the book she's holding. It does look very old, though, and it appears to be written in some variation of Elvish.

Some of the words are going to look familiar, and some of them look to be some sort of deviation from that. Maybe like a little drow slang thrown in there, something like that. But it appears to be very old, maybe centuries or more. That actually brings up a question I had, which is, I only speak one language. I speak a dragon. -Draconic. -Draconic. If Jadzi were to sit down and she had an Elvish book, would she still be able to translate it if she had help from other books? She just can't speak it, or is it a thing like, "No, you can't read that book"?

If there was some sort of Rosetta Stone type thing, where you could sit and translate... Yeah, it would be a slow process, but anybody in the world can pick up a Spanish-to-English dictionary and slowly but surely pick it apart. To translate a whole book, that would be a while. But I could find the part that matters from context, so... Yeah, again, it would probably take time, but yeah. This is all theoretical. It was just something I was curious about. Anyway. What you got, Julie? All right. Again, I know we're operating on the assumption that all of this is true and time is of the essence.

I found something that may be of use to you, and obviously you're looking for info more on demons than anything else, because that's the threat. There's a place in the Hazon Mountains. It's above Aldmor. It's a little muddled. I'm not exactly sure if this is a place of worship or if this is a place of knowledge, but either way, it should have some info you're looking for. And I found it in a couple of different books, but this is the most detailed, and I can point it out to you on the map and show you exactly where it should be. I don't think anyone living has been here in centuries.

So, Aldmor. More close by. North of Aldmor, actually, specifically, in the mountains. I'm gonna warn you, I really don't know what you're gonna find there. I'm not sure we know what we're looking for anyway, so anything helps. Trust me. Okay. Jonta is going to keep eyeing the book. She really wants it, even though she doesn't think she'd be able to read it. Why are you willing? I'm gonna say if Julie noticed you eyeing the book. Did Nate teen? She would notice. She'd notice you constantly. You haven't really spoken yet, and you're just doing the thing where you're just...

You're kind of looking over someone's shoulder like you're cheating off of them in class, that type of thing. Yeah, exactly like that. She's kind of doing that. Like, sitting up straighter than she normally would, because she's kind of a sloucher, but she wants the book. So, yeah, Julie would notice that Jadzia's kind of eyeballing the book. And she would... And she would offer it to Jadzia. It's like, "You can have a look if you'd like." Jadzia's face is gonna light up just a little bit, and she'll take it and start going through it. And even though she's not able to read it because it is Elvish/Drow, is there anything she can get from it just because she is scholarly and she would maybe recognize illustrations or maybe certain words that have the same root meaning or anything like that?

Um, "Let's have you..." This wouldn't really be an Arcana check. "Let's have you..." This is basically just reading a book, so let's have you just roll Perception, and let's see how much you're gonna get from fumbling through this. -You're so mean! -What about religion? -It's not really... -It's about gods! -Gods and religion. -It's in a different language! But the gods are called the same thing in most of the languages, aren't they? Yes, okay, but you'd recognize one or two words, but I mean, like, I'm... There's a specific reason I'm having you roll a Perception check.

Okay. I promise. There you go, see? Jadzia fumbling through this, there will be several mentions of gods that she would know of, and more specifically, there'd be several mentions of demons that she would know of, including Val'dor, and... All right, I think Jadzia's got a plus to that. -You got the thing. -I hope... Yeah, I'm sorry, you're right. It's okay. But yeah, there's even rough sketches of certain things. -Not of Val'dor. -That's what I was basically looking for, -like illustrations and stuff. -Right. And there's very rough sketches, and this book is kind of dried out, very delicate, and there's specific sections of it that are very rough maps and sketches of, you're guessing the place that she's talking about.

And it is written in a different language, but within it you can guess that there's at least some cursory knowledge of, you know, what these demons are supposed to be, what this place might have been used for. Right. After looking through it for a bit, Julie would speak up. What we've been able to translate, the place you're going to, we're guessing, was at one point some knowledge base of demons. There are a couple of passages that lead us to believe that someone turned it into a place of worship, but the history on it just kind of dries up after that.

We couldn't find any books that referenced it beyond a certain point. So we're not sure if what you'll find is going to be a place of knowledge that'll help you out and get some info on what you're actually looking for, or if it's some sort of cult. Cults are fun. So it could be great or it could be kind of crap. -That's the only lead we have. -I'm okay with leads 100%, even if it's crap. Even a crap lead is better than absolutely nothing whatsoever. And if any of this stuff is true, which you know how I feel about it, but I'm going to go along with everything.

If any part of this is true, then it could mean the destruction of absolutely everything. And if we're going to save everybody, then yeah, we got to take any lead we can. Did you say this is an Elvish? Some of it is. Some of it's... maybe some old Elvish script that isn't used anymore. I don't recognize it. Hang on. I was going to ask if Julie spoke Elvish, and then I realized that's kind of racist. [LAUGHTER] Merrick's going to head out of the room and go to the back and find Kaluna. Kaluna's probably sleeping, honestly. They're just chilling for so long, it's like, "Ah, this is great.

Mm, sleep." He's going to sit down next to her, just sort of cross-legged, and then kind of like a hand on the shoulder, kind of a, "Hey." Kaluna will probably jolt up like, "Okay, hello." [LAUGHS] I like how he's straight up, like a 45-degree angle. -Zhoop! -Yeah, exactly that. Hey, how's it going? Kaluna will sort of rub at the eyes. "Good." Okay. You feeling okay? -Yeah. Sun... Sun's good. -All right. Okay. There's some stuff going on inside that you might be interested in, or you should definitely be involved with, for one, and you might be able to help.

I don't know. Kaluna will sort of... They'll stretch their arms above their head, and then they'll look like they're about to get up, to go in, but then they'll do more just increasingly ridiculous stretches. [LAUGHS] And after just many, many ridiculous poses, they'll finally go inside. Were any of them passive-aggressive? -No. It's just, you know... -Okay. Cats are weird. They do weird shit. Okay. So, yeah, Merrick will just sort of... probably be a few steps ahead of her and open the door and all that kind of stuff and get her... -Them. -Them. God dang it.

And anyway, just shuffling Kaluna in, and then just sort of just getting back together with everybody in the parlor. As soon as Kaluna sees Julie, they're gonna perk up and sort of tense up. They're not going to do anything really aggressive, but they are gonna sort of narrow their eyes like, "Ah, this bitch." So, Kaluna... You know Julie. Julie, you know Kaluna. Kaluna here speaks and reads Elvish. Is that right, Kaluna? Kaluna's going to sort of... Their face is gonna sort of blink for a second while they're like, "Okay, what's that word? We know that word.

Um..." And they're gonna sort of nod like, "Yeah, yeah, we do." Which word? Read or Elvish? [laughing] -Both. -Okay, cool. And then Merrick's gonna just turn around and look at Jadzia and shrug. Like, "Aye, I don't know." You know? Jadzia's going to immediately look hesitant, and it is nothing against Kaluna. And then she'll put the book flat on the table because she feels that that is safer. Say, "Okay, it's very old, so I'm going to turn the pages." And then she'll scoot over to give them some room on the couch that we're sitting on, so like, "You can sit beside, but I'm gonna turn the pages." Kaluna's going to initially look kind of offended, like, "Wow, you think we can't be gentle with things?" And then they're gonna be like, "No, no, you're right.

You're absolutely 100%." And so they'll sit down next to Jadzia and try to read the book. Okay. So let's see. You absolutely read Elvish. So do me a favor, roll a Perception check, add a +3 to it. Nice. Whee! Okay. So some of this is going to be perfectly legible to Kaluna. She's gonna flip to it, it's like, "Oh, yeah, yeah. This god does this, that thing, yeah. Oh, yeah, this place." And some of it is going to be kind of like reading Shakespeare, when it's like, "Thou..." It's like the words, you know the words, but that's not how we use... It's just bullshit.

Right. It's like that seems like someone just blathering, and that none of this, like the sentence structure's all off. The syntax is just wonky. I don't understand it. Would that be at all similar to stuff that they might have found in the Glade in the past? Some of it actually would be fairly similar, yeah. And that's why I'm having you roll a +3, because some of that would just be like, "Okay, like I've seen this before, like it's still wonky, but I can understand the tone and everything." So the story actually behind this place that you're going to is that this actually used to be a demonic library.

There were a group of people who dedicated their entire lives to finding out everything they could about demons, the threat of demons, people who have sold their souls in the past, because it originally started as a reason to find out more about tieflings, because it's long been sort of presupposed that, "Oh, well, they're demons. They've got to be demons." And the people behind this library actually hunted down tieflings and murdered them, because they were so positive that they were demons. And this book goes on to say that eventually, like decades after decades of this, they found out that was not the case, and they've just been murdering innocent people.

-Our bad. -Yeah, kind of. Like what do you say after that? It's like, "Whoops." -Oh, um... -Is Valus downstairs? Yes, yeah. Of course, he's not reading this, but yeah. Yeah, Kaluna's not reading it out as they're reading it. They're sort of absorbing it first, so they're just sort of looking a little horrified, like, "Oh, no. Oh, that's bad." And it goes into graphic depictions of what these people did, because they didn't just kill them, but because they figured they were demons, it's not like killing a person and they just die. They wanted to make sure that their souls go back to hell, so they were killed in extravagant ceremonies that took days sometimes.

Kaluna's gonna glance over at Julie. Not really. Eventually, to pay penance for this, they felt so bad. They dedicated this entire place... It isn't about worshipping demons, but it is about... Originally, it's like, "Oh, we just want to get the word out that tieflings aren't this, and we fucked up really bad, and we're really sorry." But eventually, this place just sort of... Everyone in this place died, and it doesn't go into exactly why or how that happened. But the last known record of these people ends centuries ago, and no one is exactly sure where this place is other than those mountains.

There's kind of a... It's very tough to pinpoint exactly where it was, because no one's been there in forever. Even when this book was written, it had been centuries since anyone had been there. So no one's exactly sure what is going to be in this place when you actually get there, if you can find it. Good. Good news. Yeah. How would Kaluna put all of that? Okay. Yes. Okay. Summary time with Kaluna. Are you ready? Oh, no. Kaluna's going to do their best to translate. I'm going to say... Um... So... They were a... And they're going to sort of try to make a shape with their hands, but then they're going to point at Jadzi and say, "The place where all your books are." Library.

Yeah. They were a library. Jadzi's just there to help. She's kicking this completely seriously. Yes, continue. Yes. They were a library about demons, and they learned about that stuff. And they're clearly struggling, like, "Oh, God." Um... They also were bad and did bad things to tieflings, and they're going to pointedly not look at Valis, just very pointedly, like, "Mm-hmm." And, um... It's like in a karaoke bar and someone's singing a rap song. Yeah. And the N-word is about to be mentioned. All the white people just look at the floor. He's like, "I am not going to dance to this part.

You guys have fun. I'm just going to sit here." Well, it looks like Valis is going to speak up. He's just going to sit forward and just, like... And Julie's going to cut him off. Wait, you can read that? Kalin is going to give just the flattest look, like, "We said we could." And they also look really irritated because they just got interrupted in the middle of what they were saying. But at the same time, they're like, "I really didn't want to talk about that anymore, so..." I speak Elvish. I don't recognize half the words in that book. I'm just... Kalin is going to look real smug.

Yeah, I think Merrick would actually have a look of super pride on his face too, a little bit. "Maybe you should learn to read better." And Kalin is going to pat himself on the back. "Uh-huh, uh-huh. Who's the loser now?" When you say Kalin pat themselves on the back, I picture Kalin actually reaching up. They did. They absolutely just rustled the leaf cape. So great. So good at jokes. Julie's going to narrow her eyes, and it looks like she's going to pursue that, but... Can Jodzia hold up her hand? Right, yeah. Bigger fish. Alright, Kalin, what else does it say?

They're still very smug. Well, after they found out that tieflings aren't demons, and they're going to sort of give a little thumbs up, still not looking at Vallas, but sort of in his direction, like, "Yeah!" And they felt bad, so they tried to tell other people that tieflings weren't bad. And then they all died. The end. Yep. It looks like Vallas is going to speak again. And Julie's going to jump in one more time. Wait, what killed them? What do you mean they all died? Kalin's going to shrug. Doesn't say. Vallas is going to get ready to speak again, then look over to Julie. [laughter] And then look back to Kalin.

Why did they feel bad? What did they do? Kalin's going to shrink a lot. And they're going to sort of, like, they're going to keep their head up, but not sort of like a "come at me" meaning, but just sort of like, sort of trying to be, um, the animals show their necks when they're like, "I'm not a bad thing." So they're sort of doing that. They did bad things to people. And they're sort of, they're clearly like, they're trying to tell him what he wants to do, but they might, they don't necessarily have all the words. He's, he's gonna sit back a bit and grumble.

Just, he's not shocked. It's just... really, like, like he's putting it together. It's like, "Ah, demons, yeah, yeah." Kalin is going to look really apologetic, even though they didn't do anything. So was this like a small operation? Like, from the text, this sounds like a sizable library. This sounds like... So is there any chance that if I rolled maybe an Arcana or History check that I've heard of something like this? It would have to be pretty high. Arcana or History? Probably History, right? I would give you History, yeah. Okay. 32? So there is, there is something in Darmoch's old library that Jadzia remembers reading a long time ago, and it's completely, it's trace mentions every once in a while.

And the library itself was never mentioned by name, but it is, the Hazon Mountains did come up. And it's kind of a fool's errand type of thing, like the lost city of gold for Darmoch. It's like, that probably didn't exist, but man, if I could find that, there's stuff in there about demons, and I mean, Darmoch was obsessed with power above all else. And, well, Jadzia, but power and Jadzia. But it is mentioned in Darmoch's stuff too, and it is mentioned in The Same Breath as Demons. So that's two mentions from two completely different sources. Alright, then John Z. would probably mention this, like, Darmoch wrote about this place, mostly as a legend, but if it's in a book this old, then an old legend probably has a source of some sort.

And she's gonna look up at Merrick, because with Una not here, that's the next in line in her eyes. Like... Uh... Yeah, look, it sounds like we need a lead, right? And if we're getting a lead from a couple different directions, even if there's something left that could give us a clue or a plan of attack or anything, then we gotta take it, right? I mean, what else are we gonna do? We have... I don't even know how many days it is now. We have less than three months, and every day that goes by is not good. So it sounds like this is our best bet. He's gonna look at Julie, right?

Just like, "Thanks. Thank you." No problem. It's one of the only useful things I've found. And then there's gonna be a pause. Is Una around? Uh... Haven't seen her. I've been up pretty early in the kitchen, and she was gone. She's clearing her head or something. She might be hanging out around the tattoo parlor. -Oh. -I imagine that's where she would hang out all the time. She's just one of those people who, even though her body is covered in tattoos, she's still looking for her next one. I get a cat that walks around my ankle. [both laugh] All right. I'm going to get back to the temple unless you need something.

If you see her, could you send her my way? I have to talk to her. Uh, absolutely. Hey, can we keep the book for now? Or is that something you need back? I'm in charge of it. It's completely irreplaceable, so... Please, pretty please, we'll take care of it. At the word "irreplaceable," Kaluna's going to sort of... They're going to tell, "Oh, that means something important," so they're going to draw their hands as close to themselves as possible. [both laugh] -Good Kaluna. -Not bad. If you hold onto it, just take the utmost care, okay? Again, can't replace it.

It just might give us more, and anything we can get, as you know, is going to help. So we'll keep it safe. Again, if you see Una, send her my way. Sure thing. Okay, Jason, this might be completely unnecessary, but something they had back in medieval times, that they would make a backpack that's just for a single, very important book. You think Jodzia would have one of those lying around? I don't think she would be the person to not have something like that. Cool, then she'll let you guys borrow one of those. It's literally the exact size for a book, so nothing else can fit in there, and it's lined specially with pig fat or something.

It's reinforced leather and stuff like that, just to keep the elements off of it and stuff. To me, coming from first edition D&D, this is exactly what magic users would keep their spellbook in. So I would imagine, even in Darmok's library, that there's probably a bunch of these things, where he bought something and just tossed it in a corner. Yeah, I would imagine it's... To put it obsessive nerd-speak, picture Darmok as the type to have a shitload of Magic the Gathering cards and then card sleeves for everything. -Nice! -Oh, my God. This comic book collection would be pristine.

Oh, my God, yeah. He was crazy, but he took good care of his books. Well, that's crazy. -You gotta have rules. -And his nails. Well, yeah. That would be great, yeah. Anything we can do to keep it safe and secure, because if it falls apart, there might be more stuff to mine out of it. You probably flip through a few pages, but if there's anything else, that would be great. Cool, cool. All right, so she'll put that in a bag for you. And kind of look around awkwardly, because it's one of those things we all know, the subtext of what's happening here. Kaluna's just looking real smug at Merrick, like, "Uh-huh." We don't all know the subtext.

-Yeah, no. -Merrick's gonna wink at Kaluna, though. -Yeah, good job. -Like, nice. Nice. Proud of you. Julie will take one last look at Kaluna before leaving. And then it jets you. And with her eyes almost saying, "Don't let her touch that fucking book." Just, "Don't let her." -And then-- -Wow. Misgendering the character. Nice, Julie. Nice. [LAUGHS] Don't let them touch that fucking book. But again, that's through eyes, so you couldn't tell. -Yeah. -[LAUGHS] But yeah, Julie will get ready and just leave after that. So, Judzia will put that book in the little satchel and hand it to Merrick.

Sweet. Because, uh, let's be real. It's probably the safest. Kaluna's gonna run to their pack, wherever it is. I don't know if they would have it on them. But they're gonna go and pull the fire bottles out of it. And put them, you know... I guess they would very, very, very, very carefully bring them back. And very pointedly avoid Merrick and sort of hold them out to, I guess, Judzia. And just be like, "We shouldn't have these with that." [LAUGHS] Judzia will nod like, "Yes, good, perfect." And she'll take them and set them aside. -"I'd like a little kid where you take something--" -"Thank you!" Pretty much, just like that.

Kaluna's gonna look real nonplussed, like, "Okay. "It was nice when you were saying nice things. "Now it's just annoying." Okay. So, Judzia will nod to Merrick. But there's also, as she's handing you the book, you can tell that with her eyes, she's also saying everything that Julie just said, but not pointedly about Kaluna. Just about the book. Just like, "Don't fuck this up." Yeah. Merrick, I don't know what the look is, but it's the look of, "No, I got it. I got it. "I know exactly. I heard everything you did, "and we'll make sure." You know, like, reassurance face, if that's a thing.

So, then Judzia will kind of step back and motion to the three of you, like Kaluna, Merrick, Cory, who's standing there. "So, how are you guys planning on getting there?" And, like, you can tell she feels awkward saying that, because it's you guys. But at the same time, she does kind of need to clarify, like, in that one sentence, like, "I'm not coming this time, guys. I can't." Did Julie take off, or is she still hanging out? -She would have left by now. -Okay. Well, Aldmor's not too far away from Brightport, right? Uh, we do have Amara. Maybe it makes sense to take off from here, use Brightport as a, maybe a home base of some sort, and make our way north.

I don't know. What do you guys think? When he mentions Brightport, Judzia will kind of look over her shoulder, over to Valus, kind of just... Valus would look toward the floor. Just as soon as the word "Brightport's" mentioned, it's kind of like a sting, like... 'Cause there's the fun. It's like, "Oh, my God, we're getting married." Even Valus is, like, he got kind of swept up in that, and then realizing, "Oh..." Judzia will step back and take his hand, and kind of like an undercurrent of, "We'll talk about this in a minute. Let's let the group decide what they're gonna do, and then afterwards we'll talk about whether or not to also do." So you guys go right ahead.

Merrick will, uh... Merrick will just sort of talk to Kaluna for just a second. I mean, it's Cory and Kaluna and Merrick together, sort of. But he's gonna look at Kaluna and say, like, "All right, I mean, are you on board with this? Are you... You wanna see what we can find out?" Kaluna's going to look... Oh, gosh. I'm so bad with words today. I'm so sorry. They're going to look perturbed, I guess. Just sort of giving him a look like, "Why the fuck wouldn't we be in? You're going, of course we're going." This isn't gonna be... Not that it's been easy up to this point, 'cause it hasn't.

But this might be the biggest thing we've done, ultimately. I mean, again, I don't know how I feel about it, but let's just say all of this is true, and that we've got less than three months before some sort of demon army makes Theria living hell, right? That's something we gotta take care of. And that's not a big... I mean, that's not a... You can't take that lightly. And I don't wanna... Kaluna's going to stop him. Just... Merrick. It's either we go and help, or we go home and tell everyone that everything's ending. And we really, really don't wanna go home.

Okay. Then we're on the same page. And then he's gonna turn to Kori, and he's gonna say, "We haven't talked a lot about your situation. We're happy to have you here, but I also don't know how to read you and know what you want." I mean, just like I said to Kaluna, it's... I don't know about the gods. I don't know if you're who the witch said you were or not. But I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's true, right? I owe you at least that much respect. If you believe it, I'm gonna believe it with you. But the first order of business is stopping everything that could happen to Theria, right?

This isn't gonna be easy. And this is just the first... The very first thing we even have to go on. But I have a suspicion that it doesn't mean it's gonna be safe. So, where are you with everything? How are you? Kori is... She's just been sort of taking everything in, and the second she found out that there was a lead, she sort of had this inner, like, bouncing kid. But she was keeping it composed. And she's just gonna say, "If ever you have trouble reading me, I'm an open book, you can ask me anything you'd like. I think we should go as soon as possible, being that we have a timeline." And I feel like I've made my motivations pretty clear.

But I feel as though I'm prepared to go if you are. Kaluna's gonna raise their hand real quick. What's your favorite kind of tea? I don't know that Kori has had tea. [gasps] We'll find you a favorite tea. We are the tea masters. [laughs] All right, sounds like a plan. [sighs] All right, so, Kori, you're on board. Kaluna, you're on board. So, at least we need to chase this one down, right? I mean, we've still got people here at the temple, and I know they're gonna be looking through whatever they can. I know Judzia's gonna do whatever she can as well, but we can't count on them to be part of whatever we're gonna face or whatever we're gonna find or whatever abandoned library we walk into.

But we're all together? Yep. Okay. All right. During that entire thing, after Judzia took his hand and she was like, "Give them a minute," and once they started talking, she could have pulled him aside, like, into the nearest hallway where they wouldn't disturb the group. Yeah, totally, he would follow her. Well, once they're out there, she'll tuck a hair bag, and they both know what's happening. I think that's the basis of all of their conversations is... -Recently, yeah. -We both know what's going on here. You know... it would be easier to send a letter, but I think that would only make her angrier.

Mm. I'm going to have to talk to her eventually. She's going to be... upset. Yeah, like, Judzia's just gonna bite her lip, like, very slowly, just... Yeah. This is not a good first impression. She's gonna say that out loud. She's really worried. "We should return the dragon anyway." Right. So, we'll return the dragon, and... you can tell her. He's going to kind of cock an eyebrow at that. The entire time, it's very like, "Oh, yeah, this is gonna suck," then like, "What?" She's clearly kidding a little bit. There's a subtext of, "Man, wouldn't that be better?" But she has a little half-smile.

And he's going to... It'll take him half a second to catch on. He's figuring, "Uh, no." He would gladly step in front of an arrow, but not his mom. He don't want to do that by himself. And he'll pick up that you're kidding. "I could do that, but... "then I'd be denying her the privilege of getting to know my new wife." And he'll also kind of like smile. Jedzia's little half-smirk will turn into a full-blown grin, and she'll say, "Well, I do like the sound of that." And then she'll like, hug him, and we'll move back into the other room. All right. I think at that point is probably the right amount of time for both of them to be finished about the same time.

I think Merrick would look over at Jedzia and desert coming back in and be like, "Okay, we're gonna try it. We're gonna see what we can find. "That means we need to maybe head to Brightport. "How do you feel about that?" He's gonna look over at Ballas when he says it, too. [SIGHS] He'll nod his head, but very grumbly. Just like, "Yeah." Just like... Very grumbly could follow everything that Ballas has ever... Whatever. Um... Can we, uh... We don't have a whole lot of time. Can we take Amara? Would that be a problem? Is that to Ballas or to...? To both of you.

Jedzia will just kind of half-nod eventually. We'll come, too. Merrick's gonna just sigh like, "Oh, thank God." [LAUGHTER] Um... Okay, good. I don't think I could steer a dragon. Yeah, honestly... Honestly, that's part of it. And then part of it, too, is just dropping off a dragon that we've had for weeks and weeks and weeks to somebody he doesn't really know very well. -And it's all very awkward. -A very awkward car. Yeah, it's like from a friend of a friend kind of thing. I did just realize that both the people who have ever flown on Amara speak Draconic.

The really funny group got Amara and they couldn't speak, so they had to, like, pantomime everything. -Yip, yip, I guess. -Yip. Goes the one with the tower. The tower. I'm not trying to recruit you, and I don't... I think, um... I mean, Una's not standing here, but I'm sure she would fight to the death to make sure that you weren't involved with whatever's happening next. But it would be kind of nice if you could get us to Brightport, at least. That would help. We have someone to talk to in Brightport, and, like, everyone knows, so she's just gonna kind of, like, sweep that under the rug.

And I don't think that you'd be able to steer Amara anyway, so... That's what I was thinking. So, Tessia doesn't know, right? Of course. Unless one of you guys decided to send her something. No, no, no, she does not. I'm just gonna put it out there. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to go through with it, and he's gonna definitely look at Valus when he says that. But if it helped smooth anything over, we could certainly have a little ceremony if you felt like it would make it better for her. Helena's gonna look vaguely upset, like, "Oh, no," 'cause they think they have to dress up again.

Right. You know what I mean. If it would make her feel better that something happened for her, I'm happy to do it. Just let me know if it comes up, okay? Tessia will kind of look up at Valus. She doesn't know Tessia well enough. He's... To know if that would help. Okay, so there's an expression on Valus's face that's very much like, "Thanks, but no," 'cause it's... And... Gonna be a second. I think she'd find that pandering. I'm here if you need me, if that's all I'm saying. We could tell her as a group. And he's gonna look down at Tessia. I think Merrick would be shaking his head.

You tell her! He just walked away. Not like you tell her, just like, "Look, they were extending many circumstances. "Time was of the essence. We had this thing to go do." More like, "You were there? You can tell?" That kind of thing. Helena looks really confused about all of the concern. I'm like, "Why is this a big deal?" Merrick would just be shaking his head back and forth to everybody, just like, "No." "No, no, I'll do the thing I said, but that's it." "This is your thing. Own it." And he's gonna look at Valus and say, "Listen, I know it's uncomfortable.

"I know it's almost like you eloped "when it comes to your family. I get it. "But, you know, own it. "Be your husband, you know?" Just a deep sigh, just like, "Ugh." He got a little... "Yeah, we can tell there's a group. "She can't be mad at all of us." No, she probably could. She absolutely could. Maybe if we told her from a different room. With a locked door. So that would pretty much... Is everything's decided now? -I think that's it. -For the short term, yeah. Yeah, it's basically, "Let's get to Brightport." And I think, of course, that just comes along with that.

Like, "Let's pack and get all of our stuff together." I mean, we're gonna be leaving for a while, potentially. Or at least some of us are. So as soon as the group told Una, but Julie had asked for her, she'd probably go on over the temple pretty quickly. Obviously, it's, again, not hard to find Julie. You've done it a bunch of times now. She's standing out in the open. She's gonna see Una and head towards her right away. I see the group gave you my message. Yeah, get to it. Okay, so do me a favor, roll a perception check. Una's gonna take Julie in and notice one specific difference.

Julie is carrying quartz gale. Hmm. Craggy piece of shit. So they told you what I found. And where they're heading. Una's eyes will kind of linger on quartz gale for a second, and just an expression of distaste will cover her face. And it's pretty open about it. She's not trying to hide this. But she'll also not comment on it. Yeah, they told me. Julie's gonna cross her arms. "I didn't ask for it," Craig insisted. "I take it with me. "It's all alone." Again, Una's not gonna say anything. She's just gonna, like... Her expression of distaste is gonna become even more intense.

Just kind of like... When you have a piece of food in front of you, and you just can't even stomach thought of eating it, and you look like you're gonna throw up a little bit. Kind of like that. She's just really disgusted that Craig saw fit to give this to Julie. But she won't comment on it. She'll just look up at Julie's face and just go, "What is it?" I'm gonna be heading north in a couple of hours, actually. I'm gonna be leaving the city, and I might not be back. Apparently, there's a temple of Vecna in some frozen, desolate bit of rock. It's a long shot, but it may not only have some answers to the whole demon questions you guys have, but there may be a weapon there we can use.

Una's just gonna give her a tight smile, like a McGonagall smile. Like, where you don't want to, but you realize that you have to for the sake of maintaining the conversation. She's like, "Well, I'm glad that you are taking this seriously "and really putting in the effort to help us. "Thanks for saying goodbye personally." Her face is gonna tighten up. And the entire time this conversation's been obviously tense and stilted, as both of them have this growing disdain for the other, and you can tell that she's holding back, and all at once, she's going to blurt out.

"Una, I need your help." And she's gonna close her eyes and look down as she says it. Like, there's kind of a mixture of shame and disgust. For like a split second, Una's face will like, almost shocked, because there's no way in hell that she would do this. And because she and Julie are pretty similar, she knows that it's weird as hell for Julie to be doing this. But, like, directly after that split second, it will just become an expression of just gleeful smugness. And she will actually smile, like a genuine smile. "Do you now?" Julie will narrow her eyes.

"It's too dangerous to go by myself. "I don't want to take a load of paladins in with me. "You're the only person that I would trust to have my back." And again, it's causing her agony. You can see it on her face. Una is like visibly, viscerally enjoying her agony. But after like a little bit, she will relent and like soften up. That's kind of the wrong word to use, but relax her expression of just infinite smugness. It must be pretty gnarly then. I'm not gonna lie to you, this may not be something we come back from. And at the very least, it's gonna take us weeks to get there and back.

That's if we get in and out alive. The little like tense smile is gonna come back to Una's face. Sounds like you're being a little bit concerned about your life. Some might even say, "So cowardly." But it's brave of you to admit that you need someone stronger there. [LAUGHTER] She's going to unfold her arms and tense up again. Yeah, well, if I die, I don't have another one of me to bring me back. And she is going to glare openly at Una. [LAUGHTER] Una was like completely fucking with her saying that, you know, like she doesn't... She doesn't mean it, she's just trying to poke her.

But yeah, but Julie's reactions to that sort of thing are just hilarious to her. So she'll just kind of like, she'll just kind of shrug it off, like just give like a smug little shrug. Like smugness is just, she's like radiating it. Because being asked for help by somebody who you disdain is like just a treat. Right, and while Una derives more pleasure from that, it's like Julie's a little more capes to herself, a little more bookish, so she's not... It might not be that she doesn't get the joke, it's just more, she's more defensive about it. Yeah, it's like when someone's fucking with you, but it actually stinks.

And you're just like, "Fuck you!" -Yeah. -Yeah. -You're not as amused by this. -Yeah. We're going to be going alone. Nobody else, just us. Theoretically. That's who I trust with it, yeah. Una will roll her eyes just a little bit like, "Ugh, shut up." "I don't need your reasons, why do you trust me?" "Ugh, just..." She's just impatient with Juliet for pretty much no reason. [sighs] Look, I've got a group to look after. So if there is any way that you can take care of yourself on this, any way, you need to tell me. Because my number one incentive in all of this is taking care of my friends.

No offense, you're not my friend. None taken. Una, do you think if there was any way I could go do this by myself and I thought I would come back, that I would have even bothered asking you? Una would like a single shoulder shrug, just like not even committing to the full shrug. Maybe you're more cowardly than everyone thinks you are. I don't know. But you need to tell me, as a paladin of Kord, you need to tell me if you are 100% certain that you are not strong enough to do this alone. Again, gonna straighten up just a bit more, take a deep breath, and again, visibly tensing up each time, just kind of rolling your shoulders like...

I honestly don't know what we're gonna find there. I've only found vague passages about it, and nothing is locked away and forgotten that's as powerful as this thing is supposed to be without it being guarded by something. Now, if you don't think you can do it, just say so and I'll go by myself right now. But if what you're talking about is as important as you say, then time is of the essence, and two heads would be better than one. Una's gonna kind of narrow her eyes, like, "Look, you seem like you're shitting your pants over this a little bit, and that is a bit of a concern to me.

So, out of respect for the Temple of Kord, if not you, we'll go, we'll knock this out, then I'll go back to my friends, and hopefully our business together will be concluded. Is that all right?" That's fine. And she's gonna pause for just a second and look down. "I said I needed your help, and I meant it. I don't know what we're gonna find, but I would rather fight next to you than by myself. The weapons of Kord don't hurt." Una's gonna stick out her tongue a little bit, like you would if someone put a shit on a plate and gave it to you for dinner. Just like, "Ugh, what?" Just at the thought of truly wielding a weapon of Kord.

"Ugh, okay, you know, just... I hope there is something up there that nearly kills us, because if there isn't, and you've taken me away from my group for nothing, your life will fucking end up there." "I am really looking forward to hiking with you for weeks into the frozen wasteland." [LAUGHS] And she's just like full eye roll, like, uber sarcasm, just... Una will just kind of like rake her with like a... like a sneer, like the snapiest sneer. And just say, "Myself as well. I have to go say some awkward and horrible goodbyes to the people that I love most in the world.

I'm sure you can find a cat to hug or something. I'll meet you back at the temple in however long. A cup, an hour, whatever. Is that acceptable?" And she's like kind of like gritting her teeth though this whole thing, because she does not relish the thought of having to go say goodbye to her friends and spend weeks with somebody she hates. Yeah, she's going to... The cat comment? The insinuation being you have no one to love is going to... that's going to sting. And then after you get to the bit about long goodbyes and everything, "I hope it's really tearful.

I hope they hug you a lot." [LAUGHS] What a bitch. Una will turn her heel and just kind of like... just stride off like, "Fuck, fuck this. No, mm-mm. I'm out." But right before she exits, she'll kind of throw her head over her shoulder and just say, "Back in an hour. Have your shit ready to go." And then turn around and keep walking. Yeah, Julia will just fold her arms and watch you walk away. Ugh. [LAUGHS] I like personally hate her. I know. It comes through. And for no reason. Like, there's... I don't know. She just... Her character's too similar to mine. Okay, so I'd say Merrick is probably in the kitchen, of course, and probably cooking up some dinner.

He doesn't have a whole lot of stuff to get together in order to make stuff happen and get on the next part of the journey, but I think he would probably be thinking about not only making dinner, but also sort of making stuff that he'll keep for a while, because he figures they're going to be on the road. I guess as soon as Una gets back to the house, she'd probably go see Jadzia. Especially if Jadzia were with other people, but definitely she'd be the first person to seek out, I think. I'm pretty sure at this point, because Jadzia is getting ready to go see Tessia and all that stuff, she'd be near Vallis at the very least.

I don't know, probably downstairs with everyone else, because it's not like she's planning on a long trip at the moment. She's just planning to go see Tessia, so she has a little backpack of knick-knacks and stuff. And she'll be downstairs with Merrick. I don't know where Cory and Kaluna are right now in relation to us, but... She landed on a tree, obviously. She's like... How could Cory sit in a tree? -It'd be like bending. -It's a really strong tree. Cory is a tree. Well, no, Kaluna is a tree. Never mind. Cory's just sitting on Kaluna? They're both different parts of trees.

One's tall, one's wooden. Right. And together we are. One's the sap, one's the bark. So, yeah, Johnzia would probably be making notes, probably, just because that helps her calm down. She's still researching, even though they're about to leave. So she'll just kind of sidle in. Clearly, she has something to say and is not looking forward to saying it. But she'll kind of just... Just sidle in awkwardly and clear her throat. So to kind of get everyone's attention without just blurting something out. When Johnzia sees that Una's being... She can tell when Una's being awkward because she's just Una, when Una's being awkward because she has something to say.

So she's going to close the book and stand up. Is everything all right? Yes. I... I just have something to tell you all, which is not going to sound very good. Might as well just get this over with. So I'm splitting off. Julie and I, and yeah, I realise that's a strange phrase, are going to go investigate a source of potentially very valuable knowledge. And it's dangerous enough that she can't go alone, but it's also not smart to bring everyone. We all have different tasks we have to go do. Oh. Johnzia's going to look down for a moment, like, kind of processing the information, and then she's going to step forward and...

I guess she'll just awkwardly fiddle with her papers. That's probably what she'd do, because she feels super awkward. And then she's going to smile and go. So, some sister bonding then? Any awkwardness will just melt off of Una, and it just instant, like, a resentful glare. Just like, "Oh, shut the fuck up." Don't give me any of that shit. Not, you know, she doesn't hate Jadzi, it's just kind of like, "Don't you push that button." Um... But she'll kind of grit her teeth, like, "Yeah, I'm going to have to be spending a lot of time with her, "and I'm not looking forward to it, "but apparently, "even though she is a stubborn bitch, "she recognizes that she can't do this alone.

"And honestly, having her beg me to go "appeals to my ego." Jadzi is going to laugh a little bit through her nose and nod. And she realizes that Una's being very secretive with the information, which she takes to be, "She can't tell us," or else she would. "I was already prepared to say goodbye, "so I guess this isn't so different. "I hope you two can learn to get along." I just hope that when we murder each other, I'm the one who comes out on top. I think getting along is a stretch, but I... If you murder each other, I don't think either of you gets to come out on top.

It's complicated. It's... It's a sister thing. I want to be the one who dies last. My bloody heap is on top of her bloody heap. Okay. My body-bit pile is slightly further to the entrance than her bloody bit pile. No. I do feel bad about having to leave you three to go do, for lack of a better word, dirty work while I run off without telling you much. I would if I could. Jadzi, I'm not worried about you. You've got Valessia, you'll be fine. At some point, I just imagine him sort of like really paying attention, but also like packing his bags and like trying to make sure things are sort of sorted out for everybody.

Whenever he... When he caught the... When it sort of dawned on him that, "Wait, no, you're saying you're leaving right now." I think he would have found something to sit down on. So he's just been watching all this unfold without saying anything. And I think at this point, he would... He would stand up and come straight over to Una. As long as he knew he wasn't interrupting anything else, right? So there's like a dead silence. He would walk up straight up to her, not get in her face, but be very much like he's trying to be personal with her, right? And he would put his hand on her shoulder.

And I'm just trying to imagine his face because I sort of have the same face right now too, where it's just like eyes are really wide open. Like it's super serious, right? So it's clear that he's going through something, but at the same time, he's trying to be very present and be here now kind of thing. He's just going to be looking super serious and super worried at Una, right in the eyes and be like, "I think I told you, or maybe it was obvious, but when the witch took this away from me," and he's going to sort of point at his chest, "I've never been in as much pain in my entire life.

Nothing has ever hurt as much as that. But this comes really, really close. And it's not because I'm angry. It's you've done so much for me in so many ways that I've become a better person. I've become a better Merrick because of what you've taught me. You've been an inspiration." And I don't know what I'm going to do without you here." And he'll look down like he knows that this is so not good for her. But he's just going to be like, "Okay, but still, I have to say that." During his whole speech, Una's face just become more and more like theatrically sad, like where you over amplify your facial expression to cover up the minor version of that facial expression.

-Right. -Really holding it back. And she'll just kind of like blink a couple times and then almost move on like she didn't hear it. Look, I don't like this whole situation. I don't want to leave you guys. I want to figure this shit out with you. But it seems like the only way I can really, really help is to go do this. And it sucks because you guys are my friends. And I'm leaving you for someone I don't even like to be around, someone I can't even stand to be around. And the sense of camaraderie that fuels all of our adventures and our quests is not going to be there.

And honestly, if anything about this mission is dangerous, it's that I don't have friends to back me up. I've got a sister who I hate. But should the worst happen, but you succeed, eventually I'll all meet you again because there will be a heaven to go to. And it may be really shitty to die again and float around, but if I do, I will be floating around hoping that you succeed. And if I don't die, then I will come back and we will drink because I'll need it after being with Julie. While Oona's giving this whole speech, and Kaluna's going to sort of fumble around on their head until they grab a sprig of heather.

And they're going to draw their dagger and sort of lop it off as best as they can. So Kaluna will take this sprig and sort of... I don't know how to describe this walk. It's very jaunty, this walk, even though it's a sad time. Kaluna's going to sort of, with a spring in their step, walk up to Oona and they'll offer up the sprig. Oona will take the sprig, just kind of like look around on her person, like, "What the fuck do I do with this?" And then she'll end up tucking it into her breastplate, like where a lapel would be, but just kind of stuff it in between the scales.

Kaluna will grin at that and they'll say, "You'll be with us even when you're gone, and we'll be with you, because that's how this works." And they'll sort of gesture from their chest to Oona's, sort of, you know, "Hearts are connected." All that nonsense. And then they'll continue. And even if you die, you'll come back to us eventually, because that's how everything works. Something dies, it rots and decays, and then it comes back. And then they'll try to hug Oona. Yeah, she will allow the hug, like kind of perturbed, just like, "Don't worry, if you die, I'll just rot and decay.

It'll be great." So just like a little taken aback, but she knows what Kaluna's like, so she'll accept the hug. I guess she'd look over at Kori, just kind of like, she doesn't really know Kori very well. So it's not like she's gonna be like, "Okay, you too, buddy, like come on in for this hug." But she'll definitely make eye contact with her. Kori will just sort of give Oona like a, "Do what you gotta do, bro," nod. Oona like open her mouth like she was supposed to say something. But then just like, Kori gives her the nod, and she's like, "Yeah, I don't have to say anything." So she'll give her like a little nod back like, "Hey, look after my buddies," nod.

Are you leaving now? Yeah, I'm... There's not much reason to hang around. The faster I get this done, the faster I can come back to you guys. And the faster I can fake her death and leave her in that cave or wherever the fuck we're going. But yeah, I... I've got my stuff packed already. Yeah. Okay, well... All right, I hate it. I absolutely hate it. But I get it. And if this is what you think is necessary, then this is what's necessary. We'll make this work. And then we'll see you again as soon as possible. I have three things that I need to take care of for you real quick before you go.

And Merrick's gonna sort of... He's gonna run upstairs real quick to his room. And I'm sure... I don't know what's... Probably just awkward silence for a while while he's gone. But he's gonna run upstairs and he's gonna also run back into the kitchen. He's gonna be doing this pretty quickly 'cause he knows you're like, "This is annoying the shit out of you." He's gonna run to the kitchen. He's gonna be gone for probably a few minutes in the kitchen. And he's gonna come out. And he's gonna come straight back up to Una. And he's gonna, first of all, hand you a satchel.

Like a lunch bag, but pretty substantial. Like horribly tied up. Like this is with twine and it's all in cheese cloth. And this is gonna last you for a while. And he's just gonna say, "This is meats, cheeses. "This will be good. Don't share anything with Julie "unless she's very good to you." Okay? That's number one. Number two, he's going to hand her... Something that I probably haven't ever mentioned, but he used to always have a holy symbol of a monitor that was part of his regalia, right? Part of his armor, but more like a chain. Almost like a necklace, but something that sort of hung on his chest.

And it's not that big. It's about palm-sized. But he's gonna hand that, 'cause he took it off whenever he was done with a monitor. And he's gonna hand it to Una and say, "Listen, you can lose this if you want to. "I understand it's something else to carry. "But if it means anything at all, "as much as I'm skeptical, "as much as I don't believe any of this stuff, "you've maybe given me some reason to think "that maybe there's something here. "And if a monitor is around, "then it's not like I wouldn't like to meet him. "So will you keep this for me?" And he's gonna hand that to Una.

And he's not gonna even let her say a word. And he's gonna hold up his hand, and he's gonna say, "Okay, the third thing," and he'll be right back. And he's gonna run back into the kitchen, and you're gonna hear, like, clattering and everything. And a couple of minutes later, he's coming out, and he's gonna have a bunch of shot glasses and some really nice liquor. Like, super nice. Like, whatever he's been hiding in the back. And he's gonna have shot glasses for absolutely everybody. And he's just gonna pour. And it's gonna be the kind of pour that he's gonna put all of the glasses next to each other, and he's just gonna, like, fill them all up, and there's gonna be liquor everywhere.

And then he's gonna lift one up, and he's just gonna lift it like a cheers. And everybody... Everybody stares at him. Yeah, and he's gonna stare that there. He's gonna be that way awkwardly until... And he's gonna look up sort of at the glass, and he's not gonna say a word, and it's probably gonna last a lot longer than he expects. But Kaluna will easily join in. Okay. Kaluna likes alcohol. And it will raise her shot glass. I imagine that Chugsy and Vellus would as well. Samsies. Cora, you can take the bottle if you want. [LAUGHTER] -You're big enough. -Just a mason jar full of booze.

Yeah, it's one of those with the big XXX on it. It's like moonshine. He's, "Oh, oh, that's it. "Marek's been actually making moonshine." Like, this is one of his things. Like, it's the ethereal equivalent of brewing beer in your kitchen. And that's it. He's not even gonna say, like, "To Una" or something ridiculous. He's just gonna, like... As soon as everybody's got it, he's gonna fucking shoot it. Solid. Una will follow suit, for sure. He's gonna pour more into his own glass. After Kaluna sort of knocks theirs back, they're gonna look over at Una, and they're gonna say, "If you really need to punch Julie, which we hope you do, "feel free to do it, and tell her that it was from us." And they'll sort of elbow her a little bit.

Una will just be very pleasantly surprised by the lack of, you know, excessive sentimentality, and more of just, like, practical jokeyness. Oh, God. And... They all know Una so well. It's just like, whatever. You got it. If this is what you got to do. Good point. Jocia knows her too well. And she will take the amulet that Marek gave her, and she will put it around her neck. And she will be taking off the necklace that she got from Gratic, or "got" is an interesting word. -Procured from... -Yeah, exactly. Obtained. She will hand that to Jocia and just say, "In case the big hulking fucker can't protect you, this will." Jocia will take the necklace, and here it comes.

Come in for it. She'll move in. [GROANS] Give Una that hug that we knew was coming, and take care of yourself. We'll drink again when you get back. And that's all she's gonna say. And she'll back off and have Valus put the necklace on her, because clasps are hard. So, Una will take off the bracelet that Brie gave her, and hand it over to Kori, and give her a once-over look, and just say, "If anything's gonna bond you to this group, it's this bracelet." Her will just look down at Una, and hesitantly take the bracelet. But she's not gonna say anything, because she realizes that this is your goodbye to your friend.

So, with that, Una will just like, "Okay, whew, that's done. Nice." She will pour herself one more shot, take it really fast, and then pick up her parcel of goodies that Merrick made her, like a grandmother, and swing her pack on her back, and just make for the front door. And I guess when she passes out of view, you will just hear a bang, because she has, for the last time, kicked the doors open. Bitch. [laughter] -Shadzia's just gonna fill up another shot, like, "God fucking, I just got those fixed." [laughter] -Gonna have to call the paladins back in.

-The Luna takes Luna's glass. -Right. -Valus would kind of hurriedly catch up to Una. Not say anything, but I'm sure Una would be able to hear him. He makes noise. -It's not like he's a kitty cat. -Not at all. And he's gonna run a bit to catch up to her. And then I would imagine eventually Una would kind of piece together, like, "Oh, okay, he's following me." Once he closes his gap, there's just gonna be silence. Like, instead of speaking, like, you can tell he wants to say something, but he isn't. And after a few moments of looking down and just being awkward, he's going to extend his hand out to Una's.

Una will kind of, like, kind of uncomfortable that he ran out after her. It's like, "Are you my lover? What are you fucking doing?" But once he extends his hand out, she'll kind of just grin a little bit, take his hand and shake it, and just go, "Nice fighting alongside you, Bear Trap. Good times." -He's gonna shake your hand, and then, in a very not-Valus act, he's actually gonna close the gap and wrap his other hand around Una and kind of do, like, a bro-ish hug type thing. -Yeah, Una will return the bro hug and make it as bro-y as possible. -Right.

-You know, like, almost a chest bump. -Yeah, it's not intimate. It's more just like, "Well, my handshake doesn't quite cover it, so what's the next level of that?" As that's going on, in kind of a lower voice, it's obviously loud enough for Una to hear, "Don't die." -The way you say that, Bear Trap, it makes it sound like a threat. And then it's like a grin. She's, like, amused. "Is it?" -"There's not much I can do to you after you're already dead." And he's gonna kind of grin back. -"I'm sure you could find something." And she'll kind of slap him on the arm, like, "All righty then, buddy." You know, just like...

-Right. -A finality. Arm slap. -Yeah, and he's already breaking away. Like that. It's like, "Okay, done," and just moving along. Like, it's... He's not great at expressing feelings, but yeah. -Yeah, they share that trait. -And Valus will return to the party. So you guys are packed and ready to go, and you're taking off for Brightport on Amara, correct? -Correct. -All right, Jadzia, you know the drill. -I actually don't remember which skill I'm supposed to roll -Was it... -Diplomacy. -Diplomacy, that's the one. [laughter] -Yeah! -I fucked up the word "home." I mean, I should direct this dragon to a place that they've never been before in the middle of the fucking mountains, but I fucked up "home." -So when we arrive at the Swamp Witch...

-Yeah. -...and her again... -Where are we going now? "For those at home, I rolled a nine." -Um, this is not going to be the most pleasant flight. So climbing on Amara's back, Jadzia's going to give the old Draconic speech, like, "We're going here, keep ready." So Amara is going to get very excited at the prospect of heading back to Brightport because she recognizes, "Oh, we're going back to... Okay, awesome," because she recognizes that as home. That's her home. -They have cows for me there. -Yeah. -If I remember correctly, there were cows, right? -Yes, there were, yeah.

So she gets very excited. So excited, in fact, that she isn't... She isn't exactly mindful of where she's stepping and swinging her tail. In her excitement, she is going to clip a good portion of the fence around Jadzia's home, and she is going to send portions of this fence cartwheeling into the city. And you're going to hear glass break. You're going to hear a portion of this fence go through someone's walls. So Amara's going to leap into the air and start to frantically flap her wings. And the area in which she's standing, the objects are just going to go cartwheeling and tumbling and moving quite a bit.

This could have been done a little more gracefully, a little more gingerly. But you will take off into the air, and she is going to be traveling at quite a speed. So much so, in fact, that the party is going to have to hold on just to keep from sliding off of Amara. -Fuck. -Everyone do me a favor. -Kazama's having a great time. -Endurance? -Roll an endurance check, yeah. -That's a big one. -Oh, wow. Shit! -I got crit. -I rolled twice. They both sucked. -Oh. -Oh, okay. Is there going to be a chance of grabbing in this? Maybe those of us who have gotten crits, for instance.

Yeah. Well, Jadzi would be at the front, I would imagine. And Valis would be right behind. And Kory's the only one who's going to start to slip here. Shit. Where's Kory sitting? I would imagine... I think Kaluna would have placed himself right in front of her. Just because they're like all-man cool new friend. Yeah, I think so. So it would probably go Jadzi, Valis, Maric, Mac. -I mean, Kaluna. What? -Mac is in the game now. I was looking directly at the Skype window. Kaluna, then Kory. Kory starts to slip. Could Kaluna try to catch her? Or will Kory have to try to grab onto the tail?

Well, here's what's going to happen. Kory is going to start to slip, and because of Kaluna's high roll, Kaluna's fine. Kaluna's used to this. -Yeah, it's fine. -Kaluna's having a whale of a time. Just like, "Oh, yeah, the wind." I picture almost like a dog sticking its head out the window. -Exactly. -Just like, "Ah." I didn't want to say it because I've already made so many comparisons today. -I figured I'd tag in. -You've said "cat" like nine times. I know. That's why I was like, "I don't wanna tag." I wouldn't even think that Kaluna would necessarily... She would equate the Dragon Ride as fun.

There's no danger associated with it. Wouldn't really... Wouldn't really associate the fact that you are hundreds of feet off the ground and if you were to fall, you're falling to your death. -No, they definitely get it. They just haven't fun. -So, Kaluna... Just like have... Yeah, just... So, do me a favor, Kaluna, and roll an athletics check for me. Oh, no. Hey, okay. So, as Kory's starting to slip, because this is so damn... This is... It's just... Amara's just moving so damn quickly. Kaluna's just gonna turn around and just sort of like throw her hand back there and grab her hand, which will allow Kory to right herself and be all right.

But I don't imagine that it'd be... Would there be a ton of urgency in Kaluna's like, "Oh, don't die." It's just more like, "Hey!" -Is it more just excitement and... -It would... It would definitely, like once I realized, "Oh, you're going to fall off the dragon." It would be like, "Oh, no, don't do that." And I think, I don't know, is it better to like hold on to the dragon or with doing it like motorcycle style, just like, "Hold on to me." Would that be better? I don't know. Well, you have a firm grip, so Kory holding on to Kaluna would be probably the best bet.

Yeah, Kaluna will do that, just like the suggestion, just sort of wrap the one hand and she can do the other herself, I guess. Well, the good news is that you guys are going to make great time. So only, you know, only a couple of hours in the air, you're going to make great time. Amara is going to approach Brightport and the people there are going to react accordingly. And she's going to touch down just behind House Dragon Keep. Now, when I say touch down, I mean slam down. And bits of the stone street are going to just sort of flutter in the air after she hits the ground.

And this has happened before. You guys have seen the impact of where she's landed before. And there's a reason people don't use the street behind that house anymore, because it's just kind of, first of all, the road's kind of ruined. So if you're going over it with a cart or something, you're pretty much just going to have to carry the cart through there. And also, there's always the chance that she came and went so many times, so often that they just kind of like, you know what, let's just avoid that. So she is going to touch down and you're going to hear the faint screaming of people running and taking cover.

And she's going to bend down quickly, like, OK, get off, get off, get off. OK, yes, slide off. If it's clear, get off as quickly as possible. I'm sure we're all a little bit like... [mimics a fart] Right, yeah. It's fine, please, solid ground for the love of a monitor. Yeah, when Kaluna touches down, they're going to sort of like shake themselves, like, yeah, that was great. Merrick is going to kiss the ground. [laughter] He's going to get on his hands and knees and he's going to lean down, thinking he might vomit and if he doesn't, he's just going to kiss the ground.

If Jodzia were anything like me, Jodzia would be vomiting really hard right now, but Jodzia has good endurance, so she's fine. I literally just wrote an endurance check for Valis to see if he would be doing the same. He is not going to vomit, but he is going to look physically ill, a little pale, which is really noticeable on his evening. Should we all roll endurance checks to see how we took that? I would say that the... see, Valis has a fear of heights and that's been established, that's the only reason I did that. All right, then Jodzia will just kind of be like half comforting him, like, oh, honey, but she's not really affected.

Right, and yeah. Kaluna looks real concerned for everyone after they realize everyone does not look okay. Like she's going to rub his back in his tummy, like, are you okay? Like genuinely concerned. She doesn't want him to be sick. That's sad. He's fallen off this dragon before. Right, into a cart. So, after everyone saw... You didn't make the perfect My Cabbages joke because you didn't know what Avatar was yet. Oh, my God, I'll go back in time and fix it. When the special edition of that group two episode is re-released in 20 years or whatever it is, then we'll...

We turned all the real guns into lasers. Yeah. So as soon as everyone piles off this dragon, Ammar is going to kind of excitedly scoot into that huge alcove, that basement section, just kind of like... Oh, just kind of like scoot in, very excited. And after a few moments, David is going to... Going to make his way into this... It's almost an airplane hangar for Amara. That's kind of what this huge thing is. And he would, of course, welcome you all, and it's not... Sort of takes it in stride because, you know, it's fucking Amara. It's a huge dragon. They've all kind of gotten used to it.

They've grown accustomed. And he would welcome everybody and, you know, offer them... It's like, "Oh, please come in." The usual... The usual David type of stuff. Water, please. Pfft. Please. I imagine Maricat isn't even standing up straight yet. Like, he's still leaning against a wall. Whatever he can put his hand on to, like, sort of just... "Uhhhh, water." Kaluna's in an excitement loop. So they're just sort of like... They were already excited because that was great. That was fantastic. And then Amara was clearly super excited. So now Kaluna is also super excited.

So they're just bouncing like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." Just running around each other. Yeah. Which is making Maric even more, like, motion sick. Especially with the cape. Ooh. "Uhhhh, water, please. Hi, David. Water, please." [LAUGHS] He would immediately like, "Yeah, no problem. I'll go get everyone refreshments." And just, yeah. He's the Maric of House Dragonkeep. Right. So... That's an adorable title. Yeah. I'll be your Maric this evening. Do me a favor, everyone, and roll Perception. Mmm, you're keen. Okay, I rolled 10 more in Maric and I got the same thing. [LAUGHS] Every time.

Anyway. Not for much longer. You have to roll for Valis. Yeah. Maric is pretty not feeling good. So Maric not feeling good has the same level of Perception as Judzia. -Perfectly fine. -Right. [LAUGHS] That's basically it. Corey... Actually, everyone except for Valis. Oh, honey. [LAUGHS] So walking into the building, you... You guys have been taken through here before, you know the drill. And the place has... Every time you come here, it feels a little warmer. Now, that may be because they are continually trying to renovate the place and kind of give it a different feel.

It could be that every time you come here, it's always after being on the road for a while or going through some traumatic experience. So this place is kind of like a home base. It feels homey. That's the entire point. And walking through the place, you're gonna get to this huge living area where guests are entertained and such. And sitting in the middle of the room is gonna be Tessia. And... Coluna will wave very enthusiastically. [LAUGHS] So as soon as she sees the group of you, she's going to just jump to her feet and move over. And she's actually gonna wrap her arms around Coluna. [GASPS] -Oh, my God, yes.

-Aww! Coluna is going to be just as delighted as I sounded. [LAUGHS] And they are going to... They're going to be taken aback a little bit 'cause no one hugs them ever. And then they're going to, just with all of the gusto, they're going to hug her back and they're going to try and twirl her around. Do me a favor. Roll an athletics check. Yeah, I figured. -Yay! -Okay. Coluna is actually going to pick Tessia up and are you spinning her around or just like... Yeah, not like terrible spinning, but just like that super delighted, like, "Oh, my God!" spinning.

Yeah. And they are going to make a really happy squealing noise. They're very excited. It's gonna catch her off guard. The hug is like, "Oh, come here. I haven't seen you in a while." And then after that, it's like, "Oh, my." Like, very caught off guard, like she was not expecting that. And then in true Tessia fashion, immediately recover from that and just kind of like double down on the hug. Just... She does not want you to feel bad about that at all. Just like, "Oh, I'm really happy to see you too." Coluna is beaming. They are so hyped. Yeah, very, very warm, very motherly.

And as soon as the hug breaks, she will move to the rest of the party to start hugging them. And she would hug Valus next and again, only kind of like... She comes up to about chest high on Valus just... And is going to wrap her arms around his waist, basically, and hug him and then moving on to Jadzia. Let's see here. Okay. I thought about it too. The rings, right? Yeah, that's one thing. Yeah. -So she didn't... -I was terrified she'd notice. Yeah. Yeah, her perception is insanely high and that was... That's the other thought I had. It's like, "There's no way she wouldn't notice." But, "Cripmas, ha-ha!" She's just really excited to see you.

And she would hug Merrick and then... She's going to get to Cori. And she's going to realize, "Well, that's... "That's new, that's different." Not that she hasn't seen you before, but just like, "You were not with this group before." And she's going to greet Cori just as warmly as everyone else. "It's very nice to see you again." Oh, yay! Cori will hug her back and say, "The same goes for me. It's nice to see you again." No one else in the group knew that you already knew Tessia, so... I imagine we'd all turn like, "What?" Yeah, I think there's some confusion, but...

But it's also not surprising at all. It's like, "Oh, yeah. "Somehow, that makes sense somehow." So after a moment, she's going to just kind of snap out of the, "Oh, hey, welcome," and sort of catch herself. "I'm so sorry. I'm being rude. Please, everyone, have a seat. "I'm sure you're all very worn out from the road." Yeah, it was a little rocky, I'll be honest with you. Kind of glad to have Amara back in good hands. I will admit I was getting a bit worried. It had been a while since you borrowed her. She's been in very good health and not in too much danger, thankfully.

Kaluna is going to decline a seat and instead just walk around the room while everyone else talks. -Like sniffing. -A lively power walk. Like sniffing things? No, they're just... They're still... They've still got so much energy, they're just like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." I mean, they had a great time on the flight. Amara got excited, so they got excited. And they just got... Someone willingly gave them a hug. They are... They're good. They're great. They're feeling fantastic. Okay. Thalas is going to take Jadzia's hand. And Jadzia, do me a favor, roll a Perception check.

These always work out really well. That's... Oh, wow! Holy shit, 25. Almost a crit. Jadzia is going to notice that Thalas... seemingly, very intentionally... grabbed the hand with Jadzia's wedding ring on it. And... is kind of clutch... Just kind of like, "Yeah, let's..." And as they sit down, kind of like... tucking their hands in between each other, just like, "All right, let's not look at that." That kind of thing. [Laughing] That's actually quite hilarious. She will let him do that. I also imagine that when he takes her hand, he takes her hand. Yeah, just like...

-Just come here. -Her entire hand can fit in his palm. I like that both of them realize after the fact that neither one of them had the forethought to take their fucking ring off before walking in. Yeah. Jadzia's the smart one... of the group. So... Everyone's going to sit down except for Kaluna. And kind of get comfy and... Again, the place has a real homey vibe, a real nice... Real nice place to kind of be. Tessie is going to look over the group and after a second, clear her throat, just to kind of break the silence. So, what has everyone been up to? If you don't mind me asking.

-Well... -Sorry, brah. Do we need to go into the whole God thing? I don't think... [sighs] Like, not out of rudeness. Just like, is this a thing you need to know? Is this a thing... We also got to think, like, how many people do we want to worry with this? Like, how many people do we want to say, "Yeah, the world might end in three months." -Right, right. It's not like just... -It's not because I don't trust her. It's just like, how many people do we want to tell, "Your life might end in three months and there's nothing you can do about it." Right, and I think that as far as Merrick is concerned, it's sort of like, that may or may not be completely true.

There may be some threat, but I don't really know exactly what it is. But it's not worth saying it that way. It's just more like... There... There are rumors of a... threat for maybe some... demon army type things that could sort of kind of do some things to Theria. And, you know, we just sort of want to check that out and make sure we don't let that kind of thing happen. That's like the rough story. The God stuff is completely connected to that, but also isn't the goal in a lot of ways. For Merrick, anyway. So is anyone going to say anything in reply? Yeah, right, okay.

That was kind of a reply, but I realized that I didn't say it was a reply. So, yeah, Merrick will... He's going to look around at everybody like, "I don't know how to put all this." But, okay. Things have been great. Lots of changes. He's going to look at Valus and Jadzia. -Dude, fuck off. -I know. That's what Jadzia is going to say with her eyes. Right. He's going to roll right through it. We've... We've caught wind of a threat that we want to at least look into to see how much of a real threat it is or not. And it involves, you know, maybe some, you know, demons or something a little bit less than regular.

And, again, it may not be anything, but it also might be something. And we just want to take a look around and maybe do a little research about it. Effectively, Brightport seemed to be a good place to start. And we have a couple of leads not too far away. And so that's kind of it. You know, more details as they come. Kaluna's going to pipe up and just say, "We write a book." So Tessie is making eye contact with Merrick the entire time and listening and very intently, and then Kaluna's going to pipe up. And Tessie is going to look at Kaluna very much like you would a child, like a small child.

Interrupting in a conversation where adults are speaking, but being very friendly, it's like, "Did you?" Like, very friendly about it. Do I need to roll? Do I need to roll to see? Perception? Go ahead. It's not pandering. I would say that you missed it. It's very warm and everything. It's just more like, "Really?" Like, very... -Well, bless your heart. -Yeah, kind of. Yeah. Kaluna will take that as like more people telling them, "They did good." So, yeah. Nailed it. Is there anything I can do to help? [sighs] That remains to be seen. I'm not trying to be intentionally vague.

It's just that we know so little, but we have enough to go on for a couple of leads, and it's not worth bringing anyone else into it at the moment. Um... But we'll let you know. It's not a problem. Your business is completely your own. If there is anything I can do to assist, let us know, and all of our resources are at your disposal. Merrick will nod very graciously. And then he's gonna look directly at Valus, and then at Jadzia. Son of a bitch. She has a really high perception. Cut it out. And he's going to do a, like, a cough. -He's clearing his throat. -Oh, wait a second.

He's so lit. Crit one, crit one, crit one. Come on. She's gonna pick up on that. And just the slightest head tilt. Shh. And then she's going to look over at Jadzia and Valus. "Is everything all right? I noticed you're missing a party member, but I didn't want to intrude." And she's kind of leaving and hanging in the air like, "Is everything okay?" Jadzia's gonna hop right on that and say, "Oh, right. Yes, Una. Una, she had to go on a different mission, but she's fine. Una's fine." Anything but the actual thing. Merrick... So, Tessia's not looking at Merrick, but he's going to be holding his hands together, like he's almost...

I don't know, like he's got his hands clasped. And he's going to be pointing with one of his fingers at his ring finger. -Oh, hold up. -You fucking whores! But just very... He's not even looking at Tessia. -He's just going to... -Oh! -Do you know what I mean? -Oh, no! Oh, she definitely saw that. Fucking snitch. Snitches get stitches, Merrick. Let's see. Jadzia, do me a favor and roll a perception check. -That's not even kind of fair. -Oh, come on! Valus noticed. Valus is going to cut Merrick a look that screams, "I will fucking kill you." Merrick's going to wink.

Oh, and blow a little kiss. Oh, Jesus. The thing is, Merrick is actually super proud of them. And he conducted the ceremony and he actually thinks it's wonderful. He's excited for Tessia to know. He's not trying to get anybody in trouble. I think he thinks that they're being ridiculous. -"Come on, you guys." -"Just pull this bandit off." He's not trying to be an ass. He's really excited about it. Meanwhile, right this second, Jadzia thinks everything's going super well. They can talk about it later. Tessia is definitely going to see what Merrick is doing. And she's going to glance over at Valus.

And Valus is going to break eye contact with Merrick and then look over at Tessia. And there's going to be a look in his eyes that goes from just rage and hatred at Merrick. And then that's going to evaporate as he looks over to Tessia and just... It's more fear. And there's going to be a long silence, just this pregnant pause. And then she's going to stand up. "Jadzia, Valus, how about we talk in my office?" And Valus is going to look over to Jadzia. Oh, God. Jadzia's face will just go completely pale. Because she thought everything was going well, and then the silence happened.

And then she got called into the principal's office, essentially. Fucking Merrick. She'll kind of half nod and then look up at Valus. And her expression is awe and confusion. Like, impressed that she figured something out that quickly. But she doesn't know how it happened. And she's terrified. Like, is your mother a witch? Is she magical in some way that you just didn't tell me what is going on? Because to Jadzia, having a high perception... -Right. -It's like a whole different kind of magic. -It's like a superpower. -Yeah. Like, yeah, I can summon fireballs, but I can't pick up subtexts worth shit.

Like, wait, you just noticed that? He's going to start to stand up and, still gripping... As if there's any way... It's like, okay, if there's any way that we can get out of this... Still gripping Jadzia's hand for dear life. And then as he's standing up, he's going to lean over and whisper in her ear. "I'll tell you later." But it's very much like this motherfucker. Like, in his voice, he is clearly angry. Okay. All right. Merrick, you're in for it. That's fine. Totally fine. You're so proud of yourself. He was so excited about it. It almost feels like he's responsible, right?

Like, he's connected to all of this. So he's super proud of everybody. He's connected to all of this. Remember that later. It's true, though. Don't worry. We'll let Tetsuya know. He'll... He's going to... He's going to say... Merrick's going to look at Kory and Kaluna. Say, "Hey, let's find David and see about maybe getting some food together," or something like that. He's going to try to get everybody sort of... He's going to not make it very awkward. He's going to try to make it less awkward by trying to get everybody out of the room while they go to another room anyway.

What time of day is it, by the way? Do you have any sense of that? It's not quite noon. -Okay. Okay. -Also, Jason, what day is it? I think we said that at the beginning, but let's just... I don't remember you saying it. That's why I wanted to drop it in here. Almost positive we did, but just in case I didn't, it is the fourth day of Thor. Cool, cool. Right. So it's like, you know, let's get some lunch prepared. Kaluna will put himself on tea duty. -Ooh. Well done. -Tea duty sounds like a really fucked up... -I know. -...sexual position. Tea duty. I actually suffer from tea duty.

-Aww. -Yeah, it's not good. -Marek's such an asshole. -Yeah. This could have gone so much better. There was no way it was going to go well. I had accepted that. So just for the record, Marek is assuming that Tessia is going to be delighted. So that's why he's trying to let her know like, "Oh my God, he can't wait for her to figure this out." Marek still has hope in his heart. Oh, yeah. That's all. Tessia is going to lead the way down the hall to her office. Now, normally she has a pretty calm stride. She almost floats throughout this house. There's a much more purposeful walk right now.

And she is going to get to her office door, open the door and then stand by it and hold the door open for both of you. Oh, shit. Dude, this is exactly like her principal's office. Okay, John Cena will walk through. She's still letting... I feel like she doesn't even have a choice in this hand-holding gesture because it's just wrapped around her. It's not even really like a handhold so much as handheld. Kind of. But she's not going to pull away or anything. She's like, "That's just how we have to hold hands because my fingers won't fit around your fingers.

This is it." And he's kind of like tucking his hand down to hide the ring. -Right. -Again, forethought would have been amazing in this. -And he's not... -Or not having a snitch for a friend. That is also true. He's not sure if... He's not sure if you'll get the opportunity to lie. So after... Obviously, he's kind of tied to you in a sense, so he'll be right there next to you. After the two of you walk in, she is going to close the door behind you. Not aggressively, but just close the door. Why don't the two of you have a seat? Then she's going to circle her desk and have a seat in front of the two of you.

I picture an actual principal's... I picture two tiny plastic chairs with the metal legs. And then she's sitting in an armchair. I mean, yeah, John Cena would sit down, super nervous, very pale. Well, as pale as she can get. -I think I use that phrase a lot. -You do. She's going to put her elbows on her desk and steeple her fingers. Your friend Merrick... seems to think we have something to talk about. I thought we could use some privacy. Is there anything the two of you would like to say to me before we begin? John Cena will just look up at... at Valis, because, again, she does not know Tessia as well, and she's actually terrified of making a bad impression, which is clearly what's about to happen.

So she's kind of trusting Valis to know what's the right thing to do, even though, from history... it might not be the smartest idea, but when it comes to Tessia, she's like, "What do I do?" She's going to continue to stare, unblinking, at the two of you. And then, after... after Tessia makes eye contact with Valis, she's going to shift and just stare at Valis. Not angrily, but just... an unwavering, unblinking gaze, just piercing him. And he's going to glance over to her and then quickly look away again, and almost kind of shrink in the chair. And after a few seconds, he's going to slowly raise the two of your hands, the hands that he's actually grasping of Tessia's, and then ever so slowly uncouple and let her see the rings.

Do me a favour, roll a Perception check. Jesus fucking Christ. Hey... (CHUCKLES) Valis knows this is... Tessia does not. -By the way, noticeseses. -Noticeseses. Have you been drinking? Yep. Well, Tessia's not going to see it, but Tessia's expression is going to firm up a bit, and she is going to straighten up in her chair. I see. When did this happen? Is this a situation of she's staring directly at Valis, or looking to both? Oh, she's looking at the two of you. This is very much a, "And explain yourself?" -Like, she's looking at the two. -If she's going to look over at J'onn-Sia, J'onn-Sia will take part again.

Before it was like, "Okay, you break this silence," but now that it's kind of out there, it's like, "I'll help out now." J'onn-Sia will... Shit. She has her hand held up, so I can't do any of the body movements I usually do before I actually talk. Well, you don't have to. Like, he would let you go after that. It's more just, "Here," just kind of like, "What did you do?" -And then, yeah, it's very... -Okay. Then she would slowly pull her hand down towards her chest, and then cuff her other hand over it, not hiding the ring again, just holding her hands in front of her heart.

Shit, I'm scared, because even though she cannot read Tessia, she's just gonna put her own emotions onto Tessia's face. Well, what she expects from Tessia, anyway. There... We'd been telling each other one last mission for so long, with our group, with the party that we've been travelling with, and then we finally said, "This time for real, but it was a dangerous one." And she's gonna look up at Tessia and kind of meet her eyes and trail off there. Again, very... She's, like, Jadsey can even see, she's stiffened up a bit. She's usually very relaxed and... usually a very warm expression on her face.

It's a little more terse. "You did have a dragon. You could have held the ceremony here, or sent someone to let me know." It was... Honestly, I... I didn't know until... until the actual ceremony. And she's gonna look over to Valis. "Was this a surprise for you, too?" Oh, shit, I threw him under the bus. Oops. Well, honey, I'm sorry. No. I... knew the day before. And he's gonna go to stand up. And she's going to raise her voice for the first time that Jadsey has ever heard this. "Sit down." And he is going to shrink back into his chair. Like, he's... He's just going to sit right back down.

She's gonna take a deep breath and stand up. All right. "I can understand if time was of the essence. You did what you thought you had to do in the moment. Valis, I have heard about every crime you have committed in this city. I have witnessed every single one of them. It would have been nice to witness something pleasant attached to your name for a change." And Valis is gonna cast his eyes down, just not look at her. And I would imagine there's kind of a silence in the room. -Unless Jadsey wants to speak up. -Yeah, I think so. Silence. "I have had to deal with the grimness reputation in this city for years.

I am completely fine with that. I have always wanted the three of you to make your own way in life. I don't stand in your way. I don't try to hamper you." And she's going to look over at Jadsey. "I like you. I just would have liked to have seen the ceremony is all." Jadsey has her head down, just like a child being scolded. She is right there beside Valis, feeling exactly the same way. And she's going to nod very quickly. "I'm so sorry." Do me a favor of role perception. Whoa, hey! Turning that around. So, like, just to explain Jadsey's mentality, she didn't know Valis when he was-- Like, she knows about his crimes.

Obviously, they've talked about it. But she didn't think about it from that frame of mind until right this second. So when she says she's sorry, she really means it. Then I rolled 25. And I was just going to have it. "Tessie's expression is going to soften again while she's looking at you. Please don't misunderstand. I'm very proud of the two of you. I'm more than happy. It's just that if I'm going to be there for the bad times--" And again, sort of glancing over to Valis, because bad times is a bit of an-- That's a bit of an understatement for murder and accusations of such.

"I don't get to see your sister often anymore. The one time I did get to see your brother, he was intoxicated. Valis is going to perk up. And you can see he wants to say something. And Tessie's going to hold up her hand. Again, I'm very happy for the two of you. I hope you both have a very long and happy life together. And she's going to stand up and move around to the front of the desk. And she is going to grab Jadzia's hands and kind of guide her to stand up. And then she is going to slowly wrap her arms around Jadzia and just sort of a congratulatory hug.

But there's still something a bit, like, just a little stiff about it. Like, you could tell she's still upset about this, but there's nothing you can do about it now." Right, yeah. We fucked up. As they're hugging, Jadzia is going to whisper to her. "I lost my mother when I was very young and my father very recently. I suppose when I think of family, I didn't... We should have made sure you were there, and I'm very sorry." "It's all right, dear. It's in the past now." Valus is going to stand up and sort of kind of get in on the hug, just like, "Yeah, me too, Academy!" Like, that kind of...

Just kind of try to, like, sidle up. So we were going to talk shit about Malchus, right? Like, what? And he'll kind of wrap his arms around both of you, and it's kind of a just... Yeah. Kind of like a big tiefling blanket. And he's going to... As he's leaning in... Erloaf's will, by the way. And Tessie is going to hug the two of you and everything, and then break the hug. "When did you see Erloaf?" And that's when... Valus is going to realize what he just did. [LAUGHTER] She was actually... at the wedding. And again, he's going to look down as he says it, just like...

Tessie's going to straighten up a little bit. Was she invited to the wedding? She... No. Her group came through. And they just happened to be there. She wasn't there for the ceremony. -Like, as if that helps at all. -Yeah. Jessie isn't good at peopling. She thinks that'll help a little bit. No, no, we didn't care about any of you. That's the message she's getting across right now. She doesn't mean to, but... Well, at least some of us were there. I'm sure she was very happy to see the two of you. Valus is going to try and circle back. And very gingerly approaching it again.

"You... said that you saw Malchus. When was this?" And, um, Tessie... So, Tessie is pretty much just like, "Really? We're now... not really the time for the high horse thing." But come on, I'm a solid second place in this sibling run, right? -Like... That's kind of what he's doing. -Yeah. -Kind of. -Give me my silver. You can take the bronze. He stayed here with his group about two weeks ago. There was a bit of an incident. We're still working on repairing the room they stayed in. They took off shortly after that. I believe they were heading toward Bandit's Rest.

Valus is going to look over to Jadzia. Almost like, "Can I... Can I... Can I keep going with this? Can I find out?" But trying to see if it's like, "Would that be appropriate? Are we pushing it?" Would Jadzia even notice? Like, is it very obvious? I would say it's really obvious. She's not hiding anything now. I mean, I don't see why not. I'd rather change the subject too. Let's do it. Bad at peopling. What exactly happened? Most of his group went out drinking. And when they came back, he specifically was... quite inebriated. Which is not exactly new for Malkus, but...

Nonetheless, there was quite a mess. We've cleaned most of it up since then. I've already talked to him about it, if that's what you're worried about. Yeah, that's what he was worried about, sure. Malkus' well-being. He was concerned. It looks like Valus is going to say something else, but then just kind of drop it. Because again, his high horse ain't so high right now. Like, attacking him isn't really going to get him anywhere. But it does look like he's kind of mulling that over, thinking about something. Again, we're very sorry. And if we could do it over again, I'm...

I'm sure we'd come get you and have you there. And he looks kind of like a scolded child. Like, just, like, sorry, like, kind of that. It's fine. Again, I'm just happy the both of you are safe, and... I'm sure everything's going to work out for the best. Um... Jodzia's going to speak up, because she wants to do damage control. She's just so bad at speaking with people she doesn't know very well. We have decided to settle down. For real. So you'll know where we are from now on. Really? Jodzia's going to smile at Valus, like, "Hey, I did it!" Yes. I have an... It's an estate?

I think it's an estate, right? Like, if you have a mansion on a thing of land? I think, I guess, yeah. I think technically that's an estate, socially. There's an estate in Esterholt that is in my possession, and Ester will be staying. So the two of you will be settling down. And she's... you can see the wheels turning in her head. Well, that's excellent news. Honestly, I... had sort of... given up hope on ever having a grandchild. And... she's, like, she's very much reading. She's very much waiting to see what expression that elicits from Valus and Jodzia.

Jodzia's going to blush, but she's kind of, like, smiling at the floor, because she's on board for the whole baby thing. I'm not sure how Valus feels. I don't know that Valus would have ever thought about it. Because it's just the certainty of death looming over you constantly, so not only have you not retired yet, but, like, he's going to have to get a regular job. Like, he's going to have to go find a vocation that isn't "kill this dude." So, like, he's still worrying about stuff like that. The thought of kids probably never entered into his head until she just now mentioned it.

I kind of want it to be, like, that anime moment, like, that "dong!" -Yeah, kind of. Almost. -Where as I just go wide, like... Like the big sweat bubble thing, just... Yeah. So, I think his expression will be like, "W-wha?" Just kind of like, "Oh, uh... I didn't really think of that." Tessio's like, "Do you and I need to have the talk?" And the man and the woman love each other very much. The stork comes and... I'm sure it's something the two of you will figure out in time. I don't want to put pressure on you. However, if you do ever have a child, I hope that I would know about it at some point before the birth. [laughter] Judsy will just, like, nod enthusiastically, though.

Not too enthusiastically, because don't want to freak out Valis. -Right. -Yeah, yeah, tomorrow. Yeah, definitely. We're going to work on it right now. Can we spend the night? [laughter] I'm getting the sense that... you have something important to work on. Are you helping your friends with this, or is that something they're on their own for? Judsy is going to take Valis' hand. We... we swore one more mission, and we did it. I'm going to help them as much as I can from home. Hopefully, they'll be able to keep in contact with me, and I will research and... do what I can for them.

But... yes. Well, the two of you are, of course, always welcome here, if you need a place to stay or any materials. The same goes for your friends. We can set you up with some horses to get back. Keep the dragon, I see. Fine, no, I'm just kidding. And that's kind of her kind way of saying it's like... -Not too... -Not too... It's kind of our mascot. We're losing street cred with our new racket. What would the rest of the party be doing? Tea time. -Yeah, I just figured... -Just trying all different types of tea. Just trying to see what Cory likes, just like maybe this one.

Exactly. Exactly. I just figured Merrick was helping himself, getting David to help him set up shop for making... maybe making some lunch or something like that. So the tea is perfect for Cory. Like the tea tasting. Basically staying out of the way, because I think that was the point. Yeah. Well, since it's the three of you heading out, I guess you guys should talk about what the game plan is. Over tea. Over tea and making sandwiches. -Also... -Thank you, sandwiches. I've heard they have bacon in this house, so we should probably... -partake. -What's that? Of what?

The bacon. -Le bacon? -Le bacon. I don't know what that is. It's the sound of over 400 people in the forums perking out their ears. I'm just gonna... -Next. -Damn it. Everyone, roll initiative. I was scared for half a second that you were serious. No, no. I literally perked up a little bit. I was like, "What?" -David's gonna fight. -I'm so scared. -Turning out just a little bit. -You deeply offended his tea. So we need a plan. And it looks like we're lean. Which is good, because it means that we can be agile and it means we can be flexible. But it does mean that we're maybe not as equipped as we once were.

What should we do? For me, it seems like we should make our way from Brightport with whatever supplies we can possibly take with us and make our way to Aldmor and then to the Hazan Mountains and see what we can find. Maybe someone in Aldmor would be able to, I don't know, help us along the way somehow. What do you think? And that sounds like a good plan to me. So, yeah, it's about the only plan we have. But if anybody can think of anything else that we should do before we go, that's great. I just... We don't have a lot of time and I feel like the clock's ticking and it's stressing me out.

That's the bad news. The good news is that stressing me out doesn't seem to really be messing with me these days. So that's great. Kaluna's going to sort of instinctively, whenever he says, "Stressing me out," they're gonna be like, "Oh, no." But then he's going to elaborate and then be like, "Oh, yeah. -Oh, yeah, it's okay now." -It is. It's cool. He'll... Yeah. He'll be happy about all this. Uh, I don't know. As far as I'm concerned, I feel like we should get whatever supplies we can from Tessia and... nothing fancy, but we need to go. We need to make our way.

And I don't want to get Judzia or Valis to be involved because I know this is the end for them. There's no way that we could put them through anything else. And we don't know how long this is going to last and we don't know what we're facing. But if we can do it, just the three of us, I feel like even though we don't have a lot of power, we don't have a lot of damage, we do have a little bit of flexibility because it's just a couple of us, right? So maybe we can avoid fights. Maybe we can... I don't know. Kaluna's gonna furrow their brow and look over at Kori, kind of like, "She's big.

Surely that means she's super strong, but they're not gonna say anything?" Just sort of like, "Mm-hmm, whatever you say. Whatever you say, Merrick." I'm just thinking that we don't have any legendary weapons of the gods in our hands these days. So... This time Kaluna's going to sort of jab their thumb in Kori's direction. Like, did you not get the memo? Right, we might have a god. All right. Fair. Fair enough. But we also don't know what that's gonna mean for us. So, I don't know. I feel like it's just... We don't have a choice but just to go and see what happens, right?

Kaluna's gonna shrug and stuff a finger sandwich into their mouth. By the way, it's whatever the equivalent of Etherea of cucumbers and cream cheese on bread. -That would be it. -Nice. I'm sure there's an exact replica of Etherea. Guys, I really want finger sandwiches now. [laughter] -So... -Yeah. No, no, that's it. I'm just thinking. I don't know what else to do. I'd like to maybe talk to Tessia before we leave and see if there's anything she can do to help us along. -But other than that... -She'd be wrapped up. She'd pretty much be wrapped up with Phallus and Jatia.

Um... So, she would kind of rejoin everyone just to see how well you're getting along and if there's anything you need. -Because she's kind of doting that way. -Yeah. Kaluna would offer any extra tea. Just like, "Eh?" Yeah, should we move this to the parlor? Should we, like, you know, whatever platter of 200 sandwiches that Merrick has been making absentmindedly, just take them into the parlor and put them on there? That seems like a problem. -Yeah, that seems... -Are you okay? This is borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder or something. By the way, this would make David a little uneasy because that's kind of what he does.

And, like, it's kind of muscling in on his turf a little bit, just a tiny bit, but he's very good-natured about it. It's like, "Oh, that's fine. You have a free run of my kitchen." Like, very... God, Merrick would be mortified if he realized that. Right, no, he would be very, very nice about it, so... So, yeah, I would imagine everyone's gonna go into the parlor and put them in the parlor here. So, I think Merrick would look at Tessia, like, with his eyebrows up, like, "So, uh... Like, yeah?" She's just gonna shake her head, like, "Yeah, I know him." And she's smiling when she does it.

You can tell she's very happy about it, but... Do me a favor, roll Perception. 17. Well, this is mostly Merrick. Oh, yeah, never mind. -He didn't pick it up. -I think he meant everybody. -Sorry, I should have been more. -16 for Merrick. I'm st-- -I'm sorry. -Actually, crit one for Merrick. -I rolled an 11. -I still got one. I got a 17. He rolls a crit, miss. It gets a 16. Okay, this is your last rodeo, though, so... Okay, fine. Still. Um, to kind of change the subject, Tessia would sit down and straighten out a bit. So, time is of the essence, is what I'm understanding.

Definitely. Supposedly. -I was just-- -When we'll elbow him. Just, "Uh-huh." I was just talking to Chancey and Valis, and I told them that we could set them up with horses. We could do the same for you if you need them. That would be amazing. We're making our way from Brightport to Aldmoor, and then potentially north into the Hassan Mountains. Anything in terms of supplies, just... Nothing fancy, but horses would be great. Anything just to get through some mountainous areas a little bit, just to make sure that we're not in bad shape would be great. And we don't exactly know what we're facing.

We just know we're following some leads. I hesitate to ask, but I do know from experience that there might be something you could help us with. Right now, it looks like it's the three of us, and he'll point at Cory and Kaluna. We don't really have a lot in the way of protection or damage if we needed it. We have a lot of healing. We could... She's... There's an expression that's gonna come over her face, like, "I see what you're getting at." Well, I can send you over to the faun again, but Graddick was... shall we say perturbed after the last shopping trip you took.

He described it as a vicious robbery. Kaluna's gonna pout. Merrick's just gonna nod and sigh a little bit. I'll be happy to pay for anything that you need, though, and I'm sure Graddick will be fine with that. That would be wonderful. Please understand that whatever you invest in us, you will get back in return. Again, think nothing of it. I'm just happy to be in a position where I can help someone out. I'll send a message over to Graddick right away, and he'll know it's from me. Thank you. Don't be surprised if he isn't happy to see you. I won't be surprised if he's ever happy to see me.

And she'll just smile and nod, like, "Okay, you get it." In the meantime, I don't want to waste time, but I do feel like it wouldn't hurt to be able to get a little bit of rest before we take off. I don't want to leave in the middle of the night on a journey. What should we do? You're more than welcome to stay the night. There's only one room that's been quartered off. That's unusable currently, but you're welcome to stay in any other room you like. Your graciousness is beyond anything I think any of us have ever dealt with. So thank you, Tessia, for all of this.

Um, should we relax? Should we take a little break before we move on? He's looking at Kaluna and Kori. Kaluna's just going to very slowly and very pointedly, like, stare at him. While they're eating a sandwich. He's like, "Mm-hmm. That would be fantastic." I would imagine, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but I would imagine Valus and Jadzia are probably going to head out not too long from now, right? I would suppose so. Jadzia would want to talk to the group one last time to say bye and everything. This would kind of be goodbye. Yeah. So maybe we should do that.

Sure. All right. So, yeah, I guess you guys would probably, like, want to spend the night, but Jadzia and Valus might just start heading back as soon as possible. Um, now that I think about it, that might be kind of rude, because we just came to be like, "Hey, we didn't invite you to the wedding. Bye." Well, that's the... They understand. Tessia would understand that. It's like, look, you guys want to go start your life together, and that's fine. Just the fact that she's in the loop now, she feels a little bit better about that. -Our honey was in the swamp, honey.

-Right. So I imagine the scene is like Jadzia and Valus both have their packs on and they're all ready to go, and you guys are just kind of casual, because you're here, like, by the front door, like, just about to head out. And Jadzia would, without saying anything, like, just go down the line, give every person a hug, including Kluna, including... Even including Kory, even though they don't know each other very well, and just kind of thank them each, and then stand back and address Merrick for the most part, because, again, with the absence of Una, she kind of sees Merrick as the next in line.

Just know that if you find anything, if you need anything researched or translated, anything, just send it to me, all right? And I will do everything I can to help you. Merrick's just nodding through all of that, like, absolutely. There's no question. I can't think of anyone more equipped to help, even from a distance. So thank you. And thank you for everything. You don't realize that it was you that welcomed me into your house from the very beginning and welcomed me into this party, and I don't know that you realize, but maybe you do, what has turned around for me since that moment.

So that's you. That's completely you. And I thank you for it. -Dentia's gonna smile, and she's like kind of blushing, and she'll nod. "Take care of everyone, and... be careful with demons." And she gets really solemn there for a minute, like, "Don't fuck with demons. Trust me." -Yeah, I don't take it lightly. Trust me. -You all just take care of yourselves, and if you're in Hesterholt, obviously, without saying, come find me. And she's, like, looking to the entire party now. Like, she's going from, like, looking Cory in the eyes, if she can reach them, I don't know.

Cory in the eyes, Kaluna in the eyes, Merrick in the eyes, like, just going from one to the other to make sure that all three of them know, like, you don't have to be in this party. Like, Cory, if you came individually, she would... you could come to our house. Same with Kaluna, same with Merrick. -Kaluna's gonna rub up their eye, like... -Thallus would also kind of go down the line and give Cory a handshake, and... he would sort of linger on Kaluna just for a minute. -Kaluna would hold up their arms a little bit, just like, hug. -Aww. -Aww. -Come on, your mom did.

-And again, just like... And he would hug them. -Yay. -And after you break the hug, just take in Kaluna, you're very strange. -Kaluna's gonna sort of... sort of sad smile and just say, "You are too." And he's gonna get to Merrick, and he's going to reach his hand out to shake it. -Yep, Merrick will absolutely take it very strongly. -And he's going to... he's gonna kind of regard Merrick for a second. Make sure and keep yourself safe. -Yeah, Merrick won't even know what to say other than just look him in the eyes and just keep nodding. -And he's gonna lean in.

"I do owe you." And then he's going to lean back out and sort of narrow his eyes at Merrick. Just to let him know it's like, "Yeah, I didn't forget about that shit earlier. -Right. -"That's not over." -But, yeah. -Right. -"Don't die." -Merrick will just laugh. I don't even... there's so much that he would want to say to Valus just because they've had such a strange relationship, but I think that's it. I think that solves all of it. He'll just smile and as Valus turns away or walks away, he's just gonna clap him on the shoulder. You know, like, the less said, the better.

-You have to reach up pretty high. -Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. -Stand on your tippy toes. -He's gonna pat his ass. -Good game. -Good game. [LAUGHTER] -Yack. [LAUGHTER] -Like your fingers first. -Oh. -Oh, no. -It's not his bare ass. Like, he's not just standing there pantsless in front of the... -Where are we going? -Oh, that ruins my mental image of Valus. -Valus wears pants? -I thought he wore assless chaps. [LAUGHTER] -To intimidate his foes. -Why did you even start talking to him, then? -You have to do this all over. -Well, if you remember, she stabbed him first, and then...

-Right, yeah. Can't wait to tell that story to the children. Well, Mommy stabbed Daddy. And then Daddy attacked Mommy. -I guess with that, Jadsey and Valus are gonna take their leave and get on their way. -Um, as they're leaving, Kaluna's gonna say, "Bye, Mr. Valus. "Bye, Miss Jadsey. "We'll miss you." -Aww! -I'm making myself sad. -Okay, so Merrick is going to put his arm around Kaluna and rest his head against their arm. -Kaluna will do the same thing. You know, where you tilt your head on top of someone else's. -Yeah. -They'll do that. -That's it. -Guys, I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop for the evening.

-Thank God. -Yay, we did it again! -Really sad. -It is sad, but it's cool. -We got a session in, some assembly required. -We got to fucking leave, it's been six months! -Yeah. -Guys, it's been six months. -Now the group just needs to live long enough for a new character to debut. -Yeah. -Kaluna's not making a tank, sorry. You'll have to wait for the other new character for that. -Jason, just so I know, where did we leave the horses last time we came to Brightport on horses? 'Cause I need to get Freckles back. -Oh no. -Well, that's the thing, I would imagine that if you were coming to stay at House Dragonkeep, you probably left them with House Dragonkeep.

-Okay, good. -Yay, Freckles! -Freckles was put down and eaten. -No! -I'm so sorry. -I already killed one Ikhwan, I don't need another on my hands. -We had a bunch of splinters, we just couldn't... -'Cause you're a traitor! -Freckles was a girl, by the way. -Oh my god, you. -I cannot keep all the gender straight, Jesus. -Listen, Freckles, I only remember because it was in such close proximity. Like, "Oh yeah, and that unicorn that you killed." -Okay, for real guys though, look at that yokai, it's adorable. And then they're like, "Oh, they're highly aggressive." And that's what it's supposed to be, they're supposed to be like... like fuckers, like little fuckers, but they're so cute.

-Howdy everyone out there, thank you so much for listening to today's episode and continuing to support us by doing stuff like that, rating us on iTunes and visiting us on Facebook, giving us a like, everything like that. If you'd like to support us further and help us keep the lights on, that is also very much appreciated. You can go to patreon.com/dandr and you can kick in a few bucks and it helps us out greatly by paying bills and all the stuff that it takes to put out episodes every week. Also, you get tons of exclusive content that we don't really put anywhere else.

Brand new shows like the character chat we just did with James and we talked about Dagon and the entire history of that and a bunch of behind the scenes stuff. We also have been putting up tons of videos from Dragon Con and showing off all the cosplays and what it was like day to day for me and Bree there. And we're about to put up a bunch of stuff from the wedding. There's video footage from the round table we did and just stuff from all of us getting to be in the same room at once. So again, thank you very much for listening to today's episode. Make sure and share it with your friends and all that good stuff.

And we will see you next week.