The Faithful

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

[clattering] [clattering] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't 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. I'm 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+.

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, s***. Um... [clears throat] Did... 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. Episode 180 of the D&R Podcast is brought to you by the lovely folks at Patreon. If you go to patreon.com/dandr you can help us keep the lights on and just keep us doing what we do and trying to keep you guys entertained.

Plus you get a ton of bonus content. We're talking hours and hours of Patreon content. If you've never supported us before, you jump on and for just as little as a dollar we have uploaded well over 150, 160 things, something like that. You have access to the complete back catalog. Again, it helps us do what we do and we very much appreciate all of your support. So thank you guys and we hope you enjoy today's episode. Let's do that thing we are on the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, start with Jasper.

Hey, this is Jasper. I play Maric Ethelred, Human Cleric. And Mac. Hi, I'm Mac and I play Caloon of all years, the Wildin' Shaman. And Eric. Eric here and I play Ordin King Shield, Dwarven Knight. And Bree! Hi, I'm Brianna. Hi, I'm Brianna and I play Phantos, the Gisrai Scion. And Izzy. Hi, I'm Izzy and I play Una, the Half-Elf Paladin. Last time on the show, you found a body. Let's not dig into who it was or what happened after you found the body. It was a really weird moose. It really needed to eat more. And it did have a bunch of possessions on it. You guys took those possessions.

It was missing a very specific weapon of Kord, though. Which was noticed by Una. You guys essentially kind of reverse engineered it and figured out that this weird moose was killed by one punch. Thanatos has a theory about who that might have been. You guys talked about it for a bit. And at the end of the last episode, you basically got back on the road and started down the path. And this would still be the 12th of Thorim. I say we pick things up late afternoon. You guys are still on the road. And you are heading toward Aldmoor. Whether you guys stop there or not when you get to it is completely up to you.

Before I ask you to roll anything or do anything, is there anything anybody in the party wants to do? So it's like late afternoon, like four o'clock or so? I'd say like 4.35-ish. That would be our equivalent somewhere in there. Are we going to get to Aldmoor? Is that where we're going to get for staying over the night? That depends on how quickly you decide to hustle it. If you get there, it will probably be after nightfall. You're moving a little slow. Is it dangerous to travel after nightfall? We're near Bandit's Rest. Yeah, here's the thing. Everybody in the party, do me a favor and give me a streetwise or history check.

Something like that. Damn, I did not realize I have to check a fucking streetwise. Why would I never use that? I'd just like to say, Una rolled a 33 and then the next highest is my 19. Yeah, there's a bit of a gap. So traditionally most of the group would know that traveling anywhere near Bandit's Rest can be a bit dangerous. And mostly what you've got to look out for is ambushes and stuff. You don't really have to worry about that so much during the day. And you don't have to worry about it so much outside the forest. It's when you go in the forest. Una would know that the forest itself is laden with booby traps and the place is just filled with ne'er-do-wells who would love to run your pockets, murder you, whatever.

A lot of these people have run out of allies in places like Brightport even so they live in the forest just to get away from people. So it's safer to just continue on? Well, here's the thing. It's probably going to take you around five or six hours of travel to get to Aldmoor. If you guys continue with the speed that you're going now, you might need to take a break, stretch your legs, get a drink here and there. But as long as you're continuing, you should get there in five or six hours. That'll be well after the sun sets, right? So you have a choice. Traditionally, it's pretty dangerous to travel at night around Banit's Rest.

And if you guys have your maps, the road you're following leading to Aldmoor runs right alongside the edge of the forest, right? So about three hours from here, there is a pretty safe place to camp where you can see people coming. It's sort of walled off and setting up a watch is pretty easy there. It's actually notoriously safe among travelers. Notoriously safe? Notoriously safe. It's like, hey, if you have to stop... This is so odd. ...at Banit's Rest. It's like the opposite of Bermuda Triangle. People always come back out of it. Your odds greatly increase.

I can't guarantee you that nothing will happen that's bad or whatever. Your other option is to just continue on and sort of plow through the rest of the day and get to Aldmoor that way. All right. Una's going to relay that to the rest of the group. Does this little safe spot have a name? It's a K-O-A campground. Is that a thing everywhere? Yes. It's like the YMCA of campgrounds. It's just sort of... It's like, hey, if you're stopping... It really hasn't been given a name by anyone yet. But it is one of those things that's like, hey, if you're traveling... If someone's coming back from that direction, like Aldmoor traveling to Whitehead, Brightport, something like that, it's like, hey, about two and a half hours outside of that town, there's this little nook that you can...

It's away from the forest. If you've got people to set up a watch... If you're traveling by yourself, it's not as safe because it's more of a kill box. Because there's no one to keep watch unless you're going to stay up all night, which defeats the purpose of stopping anyway. And there's not any place for you to run. Whereas if you have a group, it's easily defensible. Alright. Yeah. So Una will relate that to the group and kind of just lay out the options exactly as you have. So everyone knows and then just kind of be like, alright, what do people want to do?

So we head to the campsite. I don't want to get past dark near Bandit's Rest, especially as we get closer to Bandit's Rest. And right outside of a city that seems to be not a safe place. So I'd rather be where I can see people. Sure. Yeah. I honestly don't think that, you know, worst case scenario, we're attacked, but people really shouldn't fuck with us. So I think we'll be fine. So let's continue on. Yeah. Would someone do me a favor and roll a 20/20 for me? No. I'll do it. All right. I have it in a really long time. OK, ready, guys? You got this. I close my eyes.

What is it? Oh, it's a 10. That's better than most of the ones that have been rolled recently. That's like a coin flip where it lands on its side. So you guys are going to start to you guys are going to continue on here and I would say about an hour. And now we're in the wind's going to start to pick up and it's going to be really like a it's a stiff, cold breeze. Holy shit. Well, how do you do that? How do you do that? You know, those people who are here, they're just a one. Oh, God. And not only that, before that, he prepped it before he knew what it was.

He said, good job, Bree. It sure beat my dot dot dot. He pressed enter, then rolled and rolled a one. It's forever saved. Oh my God. Never, ever put your fate in Orden's hands. Just don't. We already knew that, but thank you. I'm just saying, like if every time we sit down, it's solidified a little more. Right. But I guess my point is, is, look, if you roll a two on your encounter, you did better than what the alternative was. You have nothing to feel bad about if you roll anything other than a one. Thank goodness your AC doesn't depend on dice rolls, right?

Right. So you guys are going to be you guys when you travel along here and a nice stiff breeze is going to hit you. It's it's actually you're going to notice that temperature change like very like it's very chilly all of a sudden. Like supernaturally chilly or just like, fuck, it's a weather fronts coming in. Not supernaturally chilly. It just feels like a storms coming in like. Excellent. Yeah. Again, it's it's it's fall, so it's it's not uncommon, that type of thing. But these storms will kind of creep in and you'll usually get some kind of warning. But considering you're so close to the coast, they can get really nasty.

Kaluna, do you want to do a nature check and see how bad the storm is going to be? Do I? Ooh. I mean, theoretically, we can all do one, right? Yeah, but like you don't need to know that we don't we don't know. God, that's such a good number. Guys, I have not been rolling well. And this feels really good for me. So this this storm could get kind of nasty. It looks like it's going to at the very least downpour, maybe get some thunder and lightning, which does not sound like it. But that could be good news for you guys. Because, one, it makes you harder to track.

Two, if you were to make noise or something at your at your camp, it would be harder for anybody to even notice that you were there. They'd have to explicitly go in to see. It's like, hey, is anybody staying in that spot? Something like that. So this is actually for the most part, this is good news. Bandits are like cats, right? Right. I mean, if you. Yeah. Here's the bad news. You guys were tracking someone. That will also make them exponentially tougher to track unless you push through the storm and try to do so beforehand. So I guess you have a decision to make.

Yeah, now I'm starting to get to the other side where if we're tracking. Well, that's a good question. I mean, are we tracking or are we trying to make our way to Umineiro or both? I feel like tracking is like kind of the more pressing thing. And it's like if the trail dies or it goes cold or, you know, we find our person and they have a hole in their chest, then, you know, like it's like, OK, we can just kind of move on to Umineiro. I would actually say let's press on to the night because like it's less likely for people bandits to attack us. And, you know, if it's a really bad storm, that's nice.

Also, if we wait till tomorrow, the roads mean I don't know if Jason fucking will fake factor this in because this is very small. But like the roads could be super muddy and horrible to traverse. I was like, oh, they're similar, actually. With that nature role, would we know what sort of horrible things could happen if we press on in this storm? Well, that's an interesting question. One, drainage is a problem in this area. Like portions of the road are going to be flooded when it dips into a valley type of thing. Yeah, they're dirt roads. All this back here is dirt roads.

So like your cart could get stuck in mud if it is really bad. At the least, you're going to be pelted with cold wind, rain, stuff like that. You're going to be out in the elements. You have a covered wagon there, right? So some people can stay kind of sheltered. Yeah, totally. I mean, it is fabric. Like it's not going to like it's not like being in a car when it does. But yeah, for the most part, you'll keep it off of you. It might leak a little here and there. We can see, though. It won't be pleasant, but you can you can sort of push on. I would say then let's push on because like, let's get this.

Honestly, we should probably start running now so that we can get ahead of the storm. And also, you know, if the bandits attack us, it's going to be fucking miserable for them. They probably don't want to do it. And the kind of desperate motherfuckers who are running through a storm are probably not the kind of people you want to fuck with. How likely are we to break a yoke or an axle? That depends on how quickly you're trying to hoof it, because again, these wagons are not built for speed. So think, well, think Oregon Trail, I guess. I was just trying to make an Oregon Trail joke.

I'm glad it gave me important information. It's very, it's very serious. The harder you push it, the longer you push it. We should have taken fucking horses. We have horses. Well, yeah, that's what's going on. Two horses. Yes. So that's why we messed up. We should have brought oxen to pull the cart and back up horses. It's basic strategy. Well, one other point is the faster we're going, if we're trying to track people from fast moving cart, I'm not sure how successful that's going to be. We stop every once in a while. Yeah. And honestly, if there's a storm coming, we're going to be we're going to lose the tracking at some point anyway, unless we're really lucky or in case this person just went to Aldamool.

You know, like, also a fast moving cart is probably the equivalent of somebody jogging. So, you know, we're heroes. We can jog for six hours. You mean are you talking about dumping the carriage and going? No, no, I'm just saying, like, in terms of tracking, somebody can like be jogging alongside the carriage and you know, looking at things. Got it. Got it. I think we can push the carriage to some degree, but not like we're not like chasing after something like a car chase or something. So we could push it a little bit further. You know, you know, stop and we need to stop.

Let the horses do whatever they need to do. Whatever. I don't know. But just I'm not I don't know about horses and carriages, but do the things that people do to make it be OK. But push it and just let's get to let's get to Aldamool. Let's get to the storm. All right. Let's do this. OK. Put the kids in the fucking back so they don't get all dead. Seriously. Right. So, yeah, this this this this wind's going to start to kick up the more you the more you push on. The longer time goes on here and you're going to hear those first few like big, ploppy raindrops hit the outside of the fabric of the snow.

And then the next thing you know, it's just a downpour. You know what? Let's see here. Jasper, what you do me a favor and roll a d10. Now, this is going to judge the severity of the storm. The lower the roll, the weaker the storm, the higher the roll, the stronger. All right. I'll do it. But only because we have Eric do it. You know what? That would be interesting to see if it's actually bad luck or he just rolls low all the time. I haven't tried to do 10 too often, so I don't even know if it'll carry over to that. I'm scared. Honestly, I feel like I'm OK with this.

I think we should try it. Yeah, I want to try it, but I'm scared. What's going to happen? Do it. Go for it. Fingers every cross your fingers. You OK with this, Jasper? And we decided, is Eric doing this? If you're more confident in yourself, you do it. I'm fine with it. All right, Eric, go for it. All right. D10. Don't fuck this up. Shit. Oh, my God. That was the worst idea. I'm going to I'm going to do this real quick. How for those of you at home? No. Eric just rolled a nine. Whereas Jasper rolled a three. If we were to go. Well, now we know definitively why is anyone putting faith in my dice?

I don't understand. See, I told you, you're not going for anything ever again. Oh, I'm going to do OK with that. OK, so wait for for canon purposes. So Merrick is he's been driving this carriage, right? He's the rider guy. Is Kaluna still up front or is Kaluna sort of taking refuge from the weather inside? No, I think Kaluna would be out front just sort of like to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the horses. I think of whatever cloak and hood that that Merrick has on. He's I'm just I really like this this vision of like storm and with a hood up over like a hoodie and that he's like absolutely hitting his.

Oh, yeah. Has their cape flipped over their head as high as it can go? Like the game in our packs. Yeah. You always get like a bedroll type of thing and like some sort of blanket, but it's usually something light. So it's not it's not crazy heavy and bogging you down. I bet there was some stuff in the carriage from Tessie and all that kind of stuff just to make things comfortable, but maybe not weather proof. Yeah. Weather is just something that's going to happen while you're on the road. And while most of your you know, most people I mean, nowadays you people have umbrellas and all that.

But I mean, like if you think about it from a fantasy perspective, sometimes you just get wet and sometimes you're just miserable and you're soaked to the bone and everything is terrible. I'm just going to like get her like bedroll stuff out and like make sure that Bree and Santos are both like cozy and somewhat protected from wind and rain. Those two wearing the least amount of armor and stuff. Bree would probably like it's a very sweet thing. Yeah. But kind of being bundled up like I think there'd be a split second like you treating me the same as this child?

Like just for just a second. And it's like, no, it's just you know. You know what's funny is Santos is going to act the exact same way. So American Kelowna up front, this is going to be this is going to be a thing where obviously this storm starts rolling in and you feel like it's just like every once in a while just a nasty gust of wind and then this rain starts down for it. And then it starts coming down to the point where visibility is low. Like you can barely see in front of you. It is going to slow you down to almost a crawl. You are just going to be inching down this road.

The road is going to be washed out in front of you so much so that there are points where you dip down and the most of the carts wheel is just like in in just just a river. And then you're going to come up the other side and just continue. But it's very, very slow. Every once in a while there is going to be a gust of wind so strong that it rocks the cart. It's going to hit the broad side of the cart and just everybody inside is just going to be jostled. Like you can feel it wanting to tip over. That's how fine the storm is getting. And I would imagine this this wind just like gusting through and just like blowing the flaps of this cart.

And it's very it's very tough to keep that rain out. Like it's leaking. It's this is just a miserable, miserable experience. Sweet. Merrick turns on the fog lights. Kaluna goes out, glows in front of the horses. Wait, do you actually have power? Kaluna's aspect of the ancients is basically like like a glow in the dark sticker. That's amazing. That level of brightness. You're also made of wood. So who the fuck cares if you get wet? No offense. I mean, that is fair. Like Kaluna actually is like, oh man, rain. But then it's like, oh, God, there's there's wind and it hurts a little bit because it hits so hard.

Yeah. Could you run in front of the horses to be like a guide for the road? I was honestly thinking about that, but I'm kind of scared that it would be like a bad idea. This is getting to the point where you like I said, you're inching along. Right. So if the storm were to keep going, it may be hours and hours before you actually reach Aldor at this point. How how thoroughly have we lost the track? I would say it's pretty damn near impossible to follow now. Like it's like the roads washed out. You guys can barely see in front of you. And everything's just so disastrous weather wise.

I don't see how you'd be able to track anybody. Oh, but our reason for continuing on at speed is not a thing. So we should probably stop. Yes. I mean, I've been in this actual situation where I'm being completely soaked by rain and it's like, well, do I hurry or do I just stand here and wait for it to go away? It's not like I'm not going to be covered in rain if I run all the way home. Like, I'm still going to be wet. So fuck it. I would say if we if we can still at least see the road and it doesn't feel dangerous, if we if we get to a point where it feels dangerous, then let's stop.

But otherwise, just keep going, because, you know, at least we can eventually find a fireplace somewhere or something. Does that seem reasonable? Yep. Sure. I'm fine with that. Well, as of as long as you're traveling the speed, it's going to be about an hour or so before you even reach the campsite. Would we move faster on foot? Um, it's some of you would like. OK, first of all, like ditching the cart and the horses and all that stuff. Not the horses, but the weak people on the horses and strong people walk. OK, you're still walking through huge mud puddles and it's everything that you'd be doing in the cart.

It's just you're unified in the cart. You're all moving at one speed. This is just it would just be more effort. You're still moving faster. I don't believe so. OK, we would only be moving as fast as the slowest person. Basically. So we kill the slowest person. Perfect. Lower person until it's even the fastest person. Donner party style. Damn. OK. Yeah. Fuck. What do you guys think we should do? I think we should push on. I push on. There's there's no sense in stopping. I mean, it's going to suck stopping. It's going to suck moving. And as long as we can see the road, let's just get to wherever we feel like we can stop.

And I feel like the campsite is is worth it. Nobody's going to come out and try to attack us right now. I mean, if they do, then let them have it. Whatever. If we're no longer tracking something, what's stopping us from using the teleportation stone? Well, we weren't from the beginning anyway. We weren't tracking from the beginning. We were we were just taking a nice carriage ride to Uminyuro. Just so it's not a nice carriage ride. Well, true. But the teleportation stone is got some risks with it that this is just a storm like we've we've all been through this shit.

You know, probably a thousand times in our lives in Theria. Yeah. But it's also a storm in bandit infested woods. Yeah. Can we take- If the storm has to do anything and at least probably chase the bandits away. Yeah. If it's this bad. Yeah. This I feel like we're actually safer than we could probably be. We should just keep going. All right. Let's keep going. All right. Hours are going to pass and this storm is persistent. This is it's nasty. And the longer you guys go, the worse the roads are getting. And lightning is going to just sort of streak down the sky every once in a while, illuminate everything that the sun has set.

It's it's it's now night visibility is even worse. The good news is you don't see any bandits. So congrats on that. No bandits. Thanks. Fantastic. Because I mean, they're people just like you and who the fuck wants to be out in this? It just makes their job all the harder. You will see trees downed and branches kind of scattered. This is this is really nasty. Again, every once in a while, the cart is going to have to go over some sort of like log or something. Either that or you try to avoid it. But there are there are a lot of down branches from the forest.

Huge thick ones, too. On top of that, you will see fairly close to you as you're rounding, as you're rounding the bend and heading north towards all more. You're going to see you're going to see this massive tree just go down like just your thunder cracked lightning. The tree goes down. It's not blocking your path. It's not blocking your path or anything, but it's it's close to you. Like it's this lightning is getting close for comfort. It's pretty bad. This is Jason warning us that if we keep on going, we'll have to roll to not be hit by falling trees.

I didn't say that. I'm just telling you, I'm more or less just trying to paint a picture. This is a bad storm. This is this is one of those things like, oh, you remember a couple of years ago that storm came through and did all that damage? That's what's happening right now. You guys are just out in it. Telling you, let's keep going. We've got to get we've got to get to a place where we feel like we can we can stop safely. That's why I hope the town has been destroyed by a fucking hurricane. We roll into town like, oh, fireplaces, hot chocolate. Fuck. Yeah.

It's like goddamn Katrina down there. It would be more like we just keep walking and then really shouldn't we have gotten to a town? But then we're like two hours past. It's just gone. You guys are going to continue on. Hours are going to pass. It's going to take over into the 13th of Thoram. It is past midnight now. Wow. It's bad. Like it's it is a slow grind to get there. But in the distance, you are going to see lights. That's not a very heavy thing. Is it? This would be this would be the town. This would be this would be like lots of lights. OK. Yeah. Great. So we actually made it to Aldamore.

It's not a will-o'-wisp or anything that's tricking us into thinking it's the town to lead us into the swamp or something? No. Are you sure? Are you sure? I'm pretty sure. Pretty certain. Let me check my notes. Yep. Pretty sure. OK. I want to roll the disbelief. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't roll. Just. Every time. First of all, my my laugh is so fucking high. Anyway, every time you roll and it's not for any reason, you roll a thousand times better than you ever roll for a reason every time. How do you do it, Eric? It's a gift. It's a real talent. OK. Push to Aldamore.

Let's let's like resolve and get in there. Bang on the fucking gates. Thankfully, the town of Baltimore is is slightly more elevated than the road. It's kind of it's not uphill, but it's it's it's not below sea level. So it's not going to be flooded and stuff. Now, as you approach the gates, they're going to be these aren't menacing, huge gates. It's a pretty small town. But there are there are towers kind of surrounding the little town full of archers. And you're going to see that their lanterns lit and everything there. They are on watch, especially on a night like this.

You're going to see a lot of downed trees and stuff, though, like they've been hit just as hard as you've been hit on the way here. So you guys are going to bang on the gates, I would imagine. Yeah. I imagine this is like the hobbit's going to breathe. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. This little prancing pony type of type of thing here. This is they're not while they're on alert, they they're they know no bandits are really going to just like come in here like that. So it's more like, what are you doing out there? Are you insane? Like it's a storm in here. So they will let you in.

It'll it'll be fine. They'll they'll they'll let you in. Are you just looking to pretty much crash for the night? I would imagine. Yeah. Yeah. Let's book it to an end. Maybe have a stiff drink. Yeah. Damn straight. Warm ourselves up. Wait. So I know we've been to all more before I know Una and I and. Yep. Bri. I do. All right. We went to all more because we were trying to figure out the there was werewolf shit that we asked about. Oh, yeah. Because right. You guys that was demon shit. Yes. We found what you guys meant. I'm you meant discount. We are. Wow. Exactly. Exactly right.

Firstly, her name. Her name is Zunara. Yeah. Secondly, she's trying hard. It's rich. She's really sweet. She tried really hard. She did. She's just getting started. It takes a while. But now my question is, I feel like we've been to all more. We've probably been to an end. I don't remember. I cannot remember the story about Baltimore all more at all. But if there's a place that we already know, let's just whoever knows that just goes straight there. If not, we'll just find the first place. Well, the last time you were here, you stayed at a place called the Lantern.

And you met a lovely, you met a lovely war forage by the name of. Yeah, I grabbed your wife. They're all grumpy. Let's go. Let's go to the lantern. It's only racist if it's not true. Of course, the lanterns open because it's so late at night. The night watch person is on duty duty. So watch you guys come in. And of course, you know, you park your cart and you take care of your horses for the. This isn't the same war forage to help with Kaluna's worms, is it? Yeah. So I've been here. Yeah. Oh, that's right. This is like a week ago. Yeah. Is Kaluna finally going to deal with that stuff at the same place it started?

That'd be beautiful. I hope not. The circle of life. On the subject of horses, Kaluna is going to take more time with the horses than is necessary. A, because they don't want to go in there because they know who's there. But also because those poor horses just went through a storm and they they need some babying. Yeah, they're a little spooked. Just like, it's OK. It's OK. Hey, look, hey, look, an apple. Look at that. Seven apples. I did think you heard my pun, so I need to repeat it. It's maybe. What can we do? Goodbye. I sort of work with her. You might be awkward.

Anyway, so in demands and rooms, not demand play, we ask for. Well, normally normally the guy the guy works there. The guy that works here during the day is pretty friendly and stuff. You are going to see a war forage as you walk into the building. And he's just sort of floating. There's a there's a fireplace going. It's instantly you're going to notice a noise difference walking in from the outside. It's just pouring rain and you walk in and it's it's kind of muffled and really relaxing and warm and cozy inside. You guys just dripping wet. So I remember this actually.

Well, I completely forgot there was all more where we were. So I remember I had this whole picture, an image of where we were sitting and everything like that in my head. So you said and I think I was able to go into the kitchen late at night and just kind of do some stuff. Yep. And so just some stuff. That was because the cook wasn't there and now the cook is the one running the place. So, I mean, I'm just throwing that out there before you say anything that might offend him. OK, fair. OK, so anything else that we see or anything, Jason? Who do we walk up to to get rooms?

Is it there's a war forage named Drack who it's it's evident the second you walk in. Is he behind the counter? Well, not behind the counter, just sort of like he is the only person here. Like this is a very sleepy little town. No one's traveling tonight. They're not. Last time we saw them, didn't we drive by him and like flip him off as we went? No, he wasn't. We were going to happen. I was trying to. We didn't see him. Yeah, I remember. He did just flat out walk away from you, though, instead of getting a ride back to town. He's just like, I fuck you people like.

Yeah, that was that was that was about a week ago. It was it was a while back. His body language does not. He does not look pleased to see you. I want to walk. I want to walk straight up to drag. So Una didn't know Drack at all. Right now it happened. Maric's going to just walk in and walk up to Drack and say, hey, Drack. One, two, three, four, can get three rooms, please. He's going to do the thing, you know, where people like drum their fingers impatiently on the counter because when he sees you, he's going to walk behind the counter just like. Really? Like just not say anything, but.

Oh, and then Maric will say, oh, right. Yeah, no. And a round of a round of some some brown liquor. Yes. That is just like finally. By the way, I just want to get this out there. It has no bearing on the story. When Fantas is wet, she looks like Samara from the ring. I needed to say it so that everyone knew. I was actually already picturing that. I would like to imagine that because Kaluna took some time to baby the horses, they got in after everyone else. Right. I just seriously walk in and they just groan and it just fills the room. I imagine like shoulders sagging and everything like, no.

Exactly. So you're going to request rooms and brown liquor and everything, and he's going to mumble like he's going to stare for a long time. Just again, hollow, dead, war forged eyes. Just it's a little it's a little disconcerting when they stare at you. And then he's going to mumble something under his breath and then he's going to turn around and start getting keys. Baric's just going to be I get up for some reason. I keep thinking like Chevy Chase and one of the like a vacation movies, like European vacation or something. He's just in there just sort of just just grinning, smiling and like like everything's totally fine.

And just waiting. Serious question time. Did Drak put some alcohol in front of Thanos? Drak and... Drak, sorry. No, that's OK. He has not retrieved any liquor yet. Oh, OK. I thought you said that he did it. Well, he's getting he's getting keys and stuff. And then he would very violently slam these keys down on the just like, blam. And then he would disappear into the kitchen area and then come back and just sort of produce this this this long, almost like a wine bottle looking thing. And they just slam that on the counter. Thanks, Drak. Drak says, like, fuck goes back to the kitchen.

Maric's going to turn around and say, did you want anything? And he's going to point at everybody. Uno will wander on up to Drak and like kind of bemused, like, what the fuck is like? Why is this war for such a piece of shit innkeeper? But it's obvious that Maric and Drak know each other, right? Because like just their little exchange of. Yeah, he called him by name. Maric is being such a little shit head, which is not typical of Maric. It doesn't happen often. Honestly, he's not really he's not being a dick. He's just being he's just like, let's just go with this.

Well, he's just like, let's just go with this. Hey, Drak, we need some rooms. Can we get some liquor? Thanks. Appreciate it. Good night. You know, I just want to move on from Drak. How's that explosion you walked into? Is that OK now? All good? Cool. Yeah, Maric will be like, oh, this is Uno, Uno, Drak. I'm just kind of like raise her eyebrows like, all right. And then she'll just wander up to the bar. What is he standing? Where is he? It's a it's a look at innkeepers calendar desk. Yeah. So she'll wander up to it and just give him her most winning smile. I'm saying, and could we please get a hot bath drawn up in our room and just give him like very sweet.

Like, I'm cold and I need to be warmed up. Kind of look. Is that a diplomacy check? You know what? Go ahead. Roll a diplomacy. What if she gets a nat 20? OK. Well, the other day you did get a 20. That's true. With a five, it only was three. That's terrible. It's not. Yeah. All right. Is there anything else? This is OK. Imagine a bubbling cauldron of loathing in a person shape, like just like he has to he has to wait on you. He does not have to like you. Maric's going to just tap his hand on the counter, you know, like like he's like, oh, oh, oh. And one more thing.

And so what he's going to say is, oh, that would be great. While you're doing that, I'm going to pop back in the kitchen and get some stuff taken care for for everybody. Do you want anything? Oh, my God. Firstly, if you cross the threshold into my kitchen, I will break your legs right now. Two, you know, you're paying up front for all of this, right? I know you're a little cash light. When I was low, it was like. We did we loot off of the moose? Yes, you did. Marty moose. If we're tying it to the vacation reference. So with whatever Maric's got in his in his gold, gold bag, his purse.

Oh, yeah, yeah, because he's I swear he's not trying to be a dick. He's just trying to be like, I hope you accidentally spill all the money on the counter. He's going to he's going to put enough for the rooms. And I'm sure there's some sort of rate sign or at least maybe, you know what the rates are. He's going to put enough for the rooms. Definitely enough for the liquor. And then he's going to double it and he's going to put that down and say, oh, no, of course. No, absolutely understood. Completely. We've just had a really rough night. The storm's really bad out there.

Let's if you don't mind taking care of that. This should take care of everything. And you know what? You know, take whatever you want off the top. No problem. He's just going to push it towards him. He's going to look in like disbelief, like what changed in a week? Like why? Why? We find a wealthy boost. Yeah. Eric is just acting like we're good acquaintances and that nothing bad has happened. There's no bad blood. Everything's fine. We use our hey, Drack, good to see you. So he will take that money and he'll he'll he'll he'll soften just a touch. You can use the downstairs area till whenever.

There's no curfew right now because there are no other guests beyond yourself staying. Is there anything else you need? Yeah, just the just the kitchen. Let me know if you need anything. Is that fine? That's OK, right? There's OK. You know that you know that look when someone's like kind of like it looks like they're chewing something, but there's nothing in their mouth. Just like that that job. He doesn't even eat. Nope. Wait, why is he the chef? Oh, that's the joke. It's like Fender. I get it. Yeah, fine. Just do whatever I don't care. Thanks. Presumably, whenever Drack starts to take care of, you know, drawing baths and that sort of thing, Merrick's going to, you know, take whatever, you know, get dry as much as he can to take his cloak off and all that.

He's going to take off to the kitchen and just get something together for dinner for for everybody. Drack's going to draw a bath and there's kind of like a communal washroom type thing. It's like a like like sexy. It is. Oh, it's going to get sexy. Oh, yeah. Good luck, Drack. He will. He will heat up this water to the point of almost boiling. He's a fucking warforged god damn it. Fire cannot kill a dragon. So when when Una finally finally gets to it and everything, it has a bath coming, that type of thing. There'll be a couple of them heated up in this one.

It's like it like steaming and almost like you see where the like bubbles on the bottom are starting to starting to form. Like it is almost boiling, like another few minutes of him heating it and it will be you could make soup. I was like, you know, I think that's warm enough. Do you mind if I go grab a bottle of wine? I really don't care what you do. You got double the money. Just fuck it. Whatever. Just whatever. Just if you loot, try not to loot too much. Can I take one of your throwing chairs? You guys are just packing towels. You wouldn't feel that, right?

Packing towels and robes into your suitcase. Don't forget the shampoo. Just go to like the little like housekeeper's pantry and grab like the fucking crates of tiny little bottles. What the hell happened to group three? We're doing a perfectly reasonable thing by staying in an inn in Aldmore in a respectable city, giving people double the money that they deserve in order to make things OK. And we're just having a little dinner. What's the problem? Yeah, I suppose I suppose nothing. All started when we wouldn't attend a proper funeral last time, I think.

No more. Compass is the problem with this generation. It's about ethics and journalism. Yeah, OK. That bottle of wine. Can I just get out of the kitchen? Yeah, he honestly at this point, he really does not care. Like it's just he went from being really standoffish to fucking whatever. I don't care. OK, life is a joke. And then she's going to go find Brie and make sure that Brie takes a nice warm bath with a bottle or glass of wine. Yep. That would be actually that would be lovely after fucking after the night you guys are having. And you basically had this place to yourself.

So think of it as a. The way Dratch, yeah, the way Dratch running it is essentially this is a big house that you just have for the night. It's like Dratch's AirBnB. He literally just gave you a pile of keys like he's like fucking I don't care. And if new people come in, he'd probably get rid of them. Like he doesn't care. Like it's like none of this means anything to him. So Santos is just going to like take off her clothes and like throw them on something to dry and plop into one of the baths, like least elegant person on the planet. Just like fuck it and then slash.

Una will give her a small glass of wine. Oh, that's good. That's that's that's that's a good idea. I like a small a small sherry like cooking sherry. So we so Mary's got this brown liquor and he's just downing it himself by the way. You said a round shot with fire and knives damp in the kitchen. So I want to paint a picture like this is like soaking wet. Now she's in the bath. And as you hand her this, her eyes go wide. She like looks at you and then back at the line and looks at you and then back at the line like really. You sure? Like pulling it towards her like yeah cool.

You're like what 16? Yeah. Oh God. It's like you just handed an eight year old GTA 5. That's about right. Well we're going to come back to that. I don't imagine everyone's like drying off and getting changed or at the very least like letting their clothes dry and let you know. Just just a little is just pouting in front of the fireplace. Wow. They don't bother taking about they just sit in front of the fireplace to dry off. This question comes up a lot. The does kaluna blank question. But like trees don't bathe. Does kaluna sweat or do anything that would need to be bathing off?

I would imagine not but like I imagine that like if they ran around in a forest or something they could like pick up smells. Like if they rolled on a corpse or something yeah they would stink. They probably shower because it feels like rain right? Oh yeah. Yeah they get rain baths. What brings up a lot of questions because kaluna is a respiratory system. Is kaluna a dog that pants to cool off? Probably. Honestly. Yep. That sounds real to me. I don't know how you guys. You know what honestly it makes sense. God that would be weird though because then they would have to have a really big tongue to use to cool off.

It's like weird. No because how trees get cold is respiration via their leaves. That's how trees regulate their temperature. So that's probably how kaluna does it. It's like she just dissipates body heat through her leaves. Because kaluna is more like a manifestation of nature not just a tree. Not just a tree. There's cat in there too. Yeah kaluna is like a living chia pet. Yeah. So here's what Marek's gonna do. Marek's gonna be making some stuff and he's gonna sort of rummage around and just take liberties. He's gonna go ahead and find if there's like a nice port like a nice sweet wine type thing and he's going to take that out to kaluna at the fire.

And he's just gonna hand kaluna that and put like a really nice hand shoulder type. Just a moment of connection. Right. Like here you go. Like this is for you. And kaluna's gonna look up at him with just like he's a god basically like thank you. Marek's gonna smile. And he's also going to whenever he does have anything ready for food and it's just whatever just throw something together. Something warm though. Something hot. He's going to take on whatever tray he can find. He's gonna just take it upstairs. And he's going to wherever the communal bath area is he's gonna walk in with the tray.

He's gonna sort of kick the door a little bit like with his foot and just push it open. And he's gonna have one hand over his eyes. And he's gonna have the other hand with the tray. And he's gonna just open his fingers just enough to see where bathtubs are. And he's gonna just kind of very very discreetly bring food over to people so that they can take their own plate off of the trays. I feel like Julie would sort of get changed or whatever and then like just dry off as best she can and then probably crash down in that living area. I would imagine like the fireplace is set up.

There's furniture set up. So like big kind of like couchy type things on either side. It's a nice open space kind of made for conversation and people relaxing that type of thing. Yeah she would be down there with Colleen I guess. So wherever there are people in the bathroom or in the bathroom in the bath area he'll take food up there but everything else that's left he's going to take down and just put on the table in front of the fire and he's going to sit down with everybody there too. So that's just paint the picture. That's all. Everyone's kind of...

I mean, Orton would be relatively close to the fire downstairs in the common room too. He's kind of like a drowned rat at this point. He's not very pleased. Grumpy buddies. I'd imagine that feels really nice though to come in and get dry and like you're just probably exhausted. It's been a long long day and yeah it's just kind of nice to kind of warm up by that fire. Seriously in terms of like the best feelings in the world. It probably goes like heroin. And then coming in after a really really really cold day where you've exhausted yourself and getting nice and warm.

That's like one of the top feelings in the world. I wish. I do want to circle back around and talk about your heroin addiction but I do agree. Obviously let's address that. I wish I hadn't been muted. So loud. Okay. After everyone's cleaning stuff is this a situation where everyone would just be going to bed or are we are you just kind of like crashing? Or does everyone meet in the common room just to like, "Well I was fucking lousy." Okay, yeah, I feel like everyone should probably just, you know, take their baths get in dry clothes and then come downstairs and or wherever the fuck and just kind of meet up to kind of debrief.

Amen. I like it. We already debriefed up in the bathroom area I'm sorry. You wear briefs? Santos likes to be comfy. Briefs are not comfy. No they're not. Alright, so everyone's down in the downstairs area with the food and fryer place and warm and cozy. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, Una will kind of address the group, kind of, Santos and just say, "Well we clearly lost the fucking tracks there." Santos will, um, she's sitting like on the floor in front of the fire like before kind of one arm draped over her knee like, relaxing, Max and acting all cool. And she'll just nod and then like look to the group, but she doesn't really have anything to say about that because she doesn't know how she feels about it yet.

We should probably talk to a few people in town in the morning, just see if anyone has seen this, uh, and to kind of look at Santos for like, clarification. She'll just say like, she'll look to the fire and say, "Kaltos." Kaltos, right. Pleasant name. Anyway, what's our next move from here? What do you guys want to do? Well, we've got two things going on. We've got, we've got to get to Uminiro. We've got some time. We don't have all the time in the world. So we do need to get to Uminiro, but I get that we're close behind, um, Kaltos. And maybe that's important.

So he's going to look at Santos and just try to lock eyes for a second. And, uh, so yeah, I agree. I think in the morning we should see what we can find out. The storm has really lost everything we need for being able to track. So that's, that's a wash. But if there's nothing we can do, we're going to have to keep on to Uminiro. Does, um, go ahead. Um, Santos will kind of let the silence, like, settle for a bit and then say, "It's probably better that, it's probably better that we left it behind." Well, it's not gone for good. Would Kaltos have been interested in Bandit's Rest?

Santos will shrug. This time as a natural answer, not just because she's a teenager. Don't know, maybe. I mean, there's got to be somebody with connections to Bandit's Rest in the town. There's no way that they would not have somebody on the lookout for rich merchants passing through or something. Yeah. In this storm, there's a good chance that whoever we're looking for might even be here. Like, that's in character, like, at best sight. And it's like, well, if they're in town, the best time to look for them, and this gives me no pleasure to say, believe me, is probably right now.

We'll take a big swig of wine. Do you really think that's wise? What if we find him? It's the middle of the night, we're all exhausted. He probably is too, to be fair. We don't even know what we're up against. I feel like we need to be private investigators right now, honestly, more than anything. He's going to look at Thanatos and sort of gesture towards Thanatos. I know this is important, but at the same time, I don't want to go in and end up like your friend. He's gonna look at it. So look, okay, so this guy we're chasing is a scion, right? Thanatos will nod.

We need a scion to open the seal. Bree's gonna narrow our eyes looking at it. Okay, I'm not advocating we just sacrifice somebody without knowing the whole story, but, and hear me out, I don't want to kill you. I don't particularly want to kill Thanatos most of the time. So, third scion in our possession? Okay, one, this guy doesn't sound like the cooperative type. I don't think he's going to sacrifice himself to help us out. Two, as far as me dying, we may need to talk. And three, we don't even know what we're doing with the seal yet if we're activating it in any way, shape or form.

So we may not even need a scion. He's gonna look very, very unhappy. But she'll shut the fuck up. Thanatos will kind of listen to all of this and then like once it settles down again, because like, it's always in moments of silence that she'll finally speak up, she'll say, "He's not really the kind of guy you can capture either." Bree would speak up. What do you mean? I don't think you get it. This guy is really fucking strong. And I mean, you were in chains once and you should know that's not going to stop psionic power. And then she's gonna kind of like hesitate and curl up a little bit tighter.

Special chains for that. There's also being unconscious the whole fucking time. Merrick's gonna nod and just point at Una. I'm not sure taking more dangerous people on a long voyage where we are likely to meet up with more dangerous people is in our best interest. Literally nothing. We'll nod vigorously. Just like, "Yep, yep, yep, yep." We're just gonna like, just kind of try and look like she's biting back something and she'll say, "No, nothing we're doing, literally nothing we are doing is in our best interest." "Our best interest is to go and live somewhere happily while the world explodes around us.

That's in our fucking best interest." Ah, the heroic type, are ya? I'm just saying, safety isn't necessarily one of our top concerns. But if we don't make it there alive, then we can't really do much, can we? Julie would speak up. Don't you think we already have enough on our plate? I mean, we're still tracking down answers for this whole thing. We have to go to the frozen north to get to a seal and then figure out what we're gonna do. Probably defend it from demons or whatever's gonna be happening. You really think tracking down a psychopathic Githserai Sion is in our best interest at all?

I'm not saying it's the best idea. I'm just saying it's a way not to kill two members of our party. Merrick's gonna point at Una and go, "Mmm, mmm." I like to imagine he's got crackers in his mouth or something. No, he's still suckling on that bottle. Seriously, he is totally going down with the liquor. Thanos will say, "Or we could just not let out the gods." Bree would actually kind of perk up at that. Una would perk down at that if that's possible. If there's a silence in the room after that, Bree would speak up when exactly we're gonna have that conversation.

How about right the fuck now? Alright. The only information we have to go on is spotty text from what I hear and whatever the witch told us. Let's say all of that is true. Let's say that every bit of information we've gotten about this is true. We have a few different options. Let's say releasing the gods is one of them and we reinstate them to their former glory or whatever. We have absolutely no idea what the world's gonna be like after that. Could it be worse than it is now? Una's gonna like the same thing Merrick did, like "Mm, mm." Well, you don't want the demons out.

I'm not talking about the demons. You're talking about people with exactly as much power and free will. Look, demons are controlled by chaos. Gods at least have things they stand for. Okay. Let's say you were trapped, sealed away for however long. Wouldn't you be righteously pissed after getting back to where you're supposed to be? Don't you have the right to be? Wouldn't you also be thankful to the people who set you free? Cool, so that's the six of us. What about the rest of the world? Fuck 'em! Well, the rest of the world didn't lock them away. I'm just saying, power doesn't sit well with anyone.

Just because the stories of the gods paint them all great doesn't mean they actually are. That doesn't even mean they're actually fucking gods. They just have power. And don't forget, they were locked away for some reason and we don't know what that reason was. You think it could possibly be for a good reason? Look, regardless of whether or not they'll be pissed, which they have every right to be, I would fucking be, they are probably one of the only things in this world that has the power to counteract demons. And even if that results in an apocalyptic showdown, at least fucking demons will be popping out of the goddamn woodwork.

How many times do you know it's gone well that anyone's had a limited power, or any power? You're a fucking scion! Who are you to talk about power? Yeah, and I use it to kill people, and she's gonna stand up at that. So do you. All of us use our power to fucking kill people, and that's what the gods will do if you set them free. Some people deserve to die. And you're saying all of them do. You just said apocalyptic. How do you know they're gonna kill everyone? You just said they could. That's the point. They could. So could you. So could I. We have the power. We can find it.

No we don't. We could kill some people. We could kill all the people in this village. That doesn't mean someone won't come in and stop us. Who's gonna come in and stop the gods? Look, if we wanted to, we could find a way. It's been done before. Just ask fucking Malkus. We can find the power to kill as many people as we want to. But, that's not necessarily what will happen if the gods are released. We don't really know, but considering how fucked the world is right now, I'm kind of willing to risk it. Question, do I know who Malkus is? Because that could really help my point.

Uh, that would be a fairly high streetwise check. I mean, you would have made it. Possibly history, right? Didn't I talk to Dra- wait no, we did this because I knew that all of the Warforged died last time we were here. That's the thing, yeah. I want to see how well you know, how closely that is tied to Malkus. You did stay in House Dragonkeep, you met Tessia, so you know some things. So do I have to roll streetwise? Give me a streetwise just to see how... Probably not gonna go well. Eh, 20? You do? Yeah, I would say you picked up a few things just probably fucking around inside House Dragonkeep.

Like you may have over Tessia talking, something like that, but you'd know who Malkus was and like, at the very least what he's being accused of, that type of thing. Right. Um, she's going to narrow her eyes. You mean the tiefling who killed an entire fucking race when he had power? Yeah, a piece of shit. But, he's not a god. Yeah, he just had the power of one for a day. Two things are gonna happen. One, Drakk is going to leave the room. Kind of like slam a door on the way out, like very, very, very healthy and pissed. God, you're very loud. Not just that, but you just talked very flippantly about his entire race, like basically, yeah.

Aw. Julie's gonna speak up. Alright, alright. Think about it this way. Let's say you're one of these gods, or you're all of these gods, or whatever, however closely they actually do work together, if they exist. We're just gonna look over at Julie like, like shock and disgust all over her face. Just give me a minute to make a point. Let's say everything that we heard is true, and she's gonna point over to Bree, just like you said. So the Elatrin did whatever they did, and they bound the gods to mortal form and all of that, right? So the gods are gonna know that we can hurt them, we can touch them, be however long a shot it is, mortals can hurt them.

There's gotta be some punishment for that, right? And let's say it isn't killing all of us. What if it's stripping us of any power we have? If they have that power. Let's say it's watching us more closely, or whatever. And maybe they should. She's gonna just sort of slump down like I... Honestly, what's the worst that can happen? The entire world is destroyed. But, if people, like the people we've been fighting this entire time, have it their way, if demons have it their way, that's the exact same thing that will happen. That's not the choice we have. There's a third option you're forgetting, which is not letting anything out.

That wouldn't end in an apocalypse. It would just end in the world continuing to be kinda shitty. That's better than not existing. Who's to say that there won't be another apocalypse next week, that we won't have the power to stop without the gods at our side? That's always gonna be the case. We'll always have something else to fight, something else to try to save the world. Marius is gonna stand up and actually, like, stand in front of the fire. And try to address everybody real quick. Sort of. He's actually gonna look at Una. And he's gonna say... He's talking to everybody, but he's specifically making sure that Una is paying attention.

He's gonna say, "Look, I don't know that I've ever believed like you have about the gods. You know where I came from. And you were there for a while too. I don't know that there's any such thing. The one thing that I do know, and you weren't there, is that the demons are real. I don't know about the gods. We can speculate all we want to. He's gonna look at everybody. We can talk about whether they deserve it, whether they should be released, whether they shouldn't be released, whether they deserved it, whether... Who knows? Whether it's a myth. And be damned if I believe anything the swamp witch has to say.

But one thing that I do know is that the demons are trying to come back. And they want Theria. And he's gonna look at Una specifically, and he's gonna say, "I saw Dharmak. I spoke to Dharmak." And he's gonna just let a moment for that to sink in. He's leading the charge, Una. Dharmak. He's coming back. And he wants back, desperately. Do you know why he wants back? I think I can fucking guess. Yeah. It's the first thing he said to me. "Where is she?" I don't care about the gods like anybody else here might. What I do know is that I can stop the fucking demons.

And by that, you know what? I would take an entire world full of demons before I'd let Dharmak back. But I talked to him. I saw him. And he's trying to get back. So I'm going to the seal. And I want all of you to go to the seal. And what I want to happen is to stop whatever's gonna happen for demons. And it's not because of the welfare of the world. It's not because I want to save anything. It's not because I want to make everything better. It's not because I want the gods to be all I care about. It's that Dharmak's not getting back and Dharmak's not gonna get her.

That's it. That's why I'm going and that's why I'm involved. That was very moving, Jasper. I don't know. I've been drinking. I'm gonna tear up a little bit because invoking Jadzia is a very sensitive subject. So she'll nod and do that little wave of your hand thing. You're kind of saying, "Yeah, alright, okay." Yeah, I get it. And then she'll just get up and leave the room. It's a bit too much for her. Maris is just gonna sit back down and just brood for a little bit. I'd imagine there's a pretty weighty silence. There's a deep brooding happening right now.

Kaluna's just thoughtfully drinking up their bottle. They've been doing this entire time. Just like, "Mm-hmm. Cool." Do me a favor. This is more like recreational. Like, "I'll have some wine and stuff like that." But Santos specifically, do me a favor. I'd like to... What actually happened, just so everyone knows. Santos took a sip, thought it was disgusting, and even made a face, but then continued to take sips. Because she wants to feel like an adult. So do me a favor. Roll an endurance check with a negative 4. Oh no! Guys, it's one of my lowest. This can only end well.

You're gonna turn into a werewolf. Trust me. I'm gonna counteract all the good points I just made. Oh no! Wait, it's a plus? Oh yeah, because I have plus 7. 13's not great. So Santos is gonna... First of all, kinda relaxed. And then tipsy. Just very... Oh man, she just gets broodier. Oh, a fun drunk. Great. After... I don't know how long this silence would carry on, but after a while, Brie would say something. Look, whatever her personal preferences are, the gods thing. I don't think anyone's rooting for the demons. So, that'll be our common ground for right now.

We all want to make sure that nothing happens on that end. So at the very least we'll be defending the seal. Whatever we decide to do with it after we get there. If we can do anything, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Maric's just nodding. Just sorta like, "Yeah, I know. I know." And brooding. He's still brooding. Brooding? Okay, good. So much brood. Julie would just be sitting there, arms folded, just kind of... Just cross between sulky and just like... Sort of angry? To her it's just like, "I don't understand why we're not on the same page.

This is a no-brainer. What the fuck?" To her it's just very... Why is there a debate? Sorry, did I miss Julie's point? Because I feel like she opened the basket and then was silent on the issue. Well, things got pretty loud. It was more just like, "Okay, whatever. Fuck theology for just a minute." And it's just... Let's say it is... Let's just say you are right and the gods are right. We're gonna get fucked if they come back. No one just lets that slide. "Yeah, you imprisoned us for centuries. Whatevs." No one's gonna let that... That's her point. Even if you are right and the gods exist and all that, why would you want them back?

No good's gonna come from that. But Bree would pretty much adjourn after that and just... Probably go join Una. Dude, I'm so pissed about Julie being like, "Fuck the gods. You're a fucking powder!" Don't worry. People in the forums will complain that she's not a real paladin. Don't worry. Thank you. Good. Here's the thing. Julie joined the temple out of convenience and to be... Real bitchiness. I think she's just more pragmatic than Una is and not guided by faith, more guided by knowledge and science and stuff. Just happens to work with the paladins. Because the paladins do good.

They're just... She doesn't look at it as like, "Oh, we're doing good for court." It's like, "No, we're doing good because the town is on fire and people need us." Be a fucking doctor then. Don't join the temple of poignancy. Well, there is medical practices. One of those is free and one of them costs money. At least in the real world, if you want to understand. Also, I like that this is like mirror world Izzy where Izzy's the religious one who hates knowledge. It's so fucking weird. Normally, you'd be the Julie. It's true. But without being a traitorous bitch.

So, I guess... Merrick's still here, Caluna's still here, Thanatos is still here. Everyone else is left? Julie's here. Julie. Julie's doing it. Hooker! I'm pretty sure Julie's sleeping down here from what Jason said earlier. Kind of by yourself. Like, not, you know... So, I guess my question to Ordon will address the group then. So, what's our plan for tomorrow? Tomorrow we find out about whatever we can about Caltas. We'll look at Thanatos when he says that. First thing, do as much research as we can to see if that's even a possibility. And if there's nothing there, if it's all dried up, then we need to make our way to Ominuro.

We've got to find out more about what we're going to deal with at the seal. Okay, so we find out that there's a lead on him. You're willing to put Jadzia and everyone else's life on the line to go chase after this guy? It's not so much about chasing after and doing anything. And again, he's going to keep looking at Thanatos as he talks at all about this. But Merrick says, "We owe it to one of us to look into this and see what we have to deal with." Right? That's all. That's all. Julie would speak up. I don't mean any offense by this. And she's going to be looking right at Thanatos.

But if it is the guy you're talking about, isn't he going to be looking for you? So Thanatos is a little bit tipsy, so she's a little bit more emotional than usual, but she can tell. Though she might not know it's actually the liquor that's doing it. Like she can tell she's about to cry. So she is fucking stone-faced. Like, "Nope, nope, not listening, not listening." And it's only when she's being directly addressed that she looks over and she goes, "What?" If this is Kaltos, and this is the person you're talking about, and he's this dangerous and hates you that much, do we really need to go looking for him?

Isn't he just going to pop up eventually? Thanatos will kind of nod and... Yeah, that's what it sounded like. I just wanted to get stronger before he was so close. So shouldn't we just stay on the road, Uminiro, and just get this over with? Thanatos is going to look over at Jasper, I mean, at Marek, and kind of nod. Like she agrees with Julie, we should just keep moving. Marek's going to stand up, and he's going to start to move towards the kitchen, and then he's going to motion to Thanatos and just say, "Give me one minute." And he's going to point toward the kitchen.

"Give us a second." And he's going to say that to the rest of the room. Thanatos is going to blink a few times, and then go, "Last time I went in the kitchen with you, you yelled at me." This is the opposite, I promise. Okay, then she will slowly stand up, and... How tipsy! Like, would it be a thing where the room's kind of spinning, or just... A little bit, yeah. God damn it. Okay, then she's going to kind of stumble in the direction of the kitchen. Like a little unsteady. Once we're in there, Marek's going to make sure the door's closed. And he's going to say, "Look, just for a minute, I didn't know your story, and I should have asked more.

I thought you needed space, or wanted space, and I don't even think you care about space. I think you just care about what you need to do, and what you want. And I get that. My point is, I care about this, and I care about you. And I need you to help me make a decision right now. Is this, is Kal'Tos more important right now to you than saving the world, or keeping demons away, or freeing the gods? And I'm asking honestly. Santa's going to listen to all this, and as she's listening you can see her kind of starting to break down a little bit, because again, the liquor.

This wouldn't normally be what she does, but when it's her turn to speak, it's like a dam kind of breaks, and tears start running down her face, and she cuffs them really quickly to try to get them to go away. And she goes, "I didn't think it would happen so soon." And then she's going to shake her head. "I'm not ready. I'm not strong enough yet. He's going to kill us." And then she's going to just have her hands covering her eyes so that no more can happen. Yeah. Marek is going to very gently and very, if it's okay, he's going to come just hold her, just hug her, and make sure that she's safe.

Sorry. Yeah, yeah. And she's going to almost collapse into Marek. That's exactly what she needed. She'll start nodding really fast. Yeah, yeah. And she's trying not to openly sob, but every once in a while there's just a little like... Yeah. And she's just going to stay like that, and if you'll keep holding her, she will stay like that until she can stop crying, which might take a while. Marek will stay as long as it takes, like just not moving at all, just making sure that she's held. So that's all he's going to say. Basically what he's just said is, as soon as they deal with whatever, that's going to be his focus, period.

And then after a few minutes of just like actually behaving her age for a change, she'll kind of pull away and wipe her tears with her palms, and her eyes are like bright red, but she's really trying to pretend that that didn't just happen. She's going to say, "Don't tell them, okay?" Tell them about what? And then he's going to start to turn around and sort of push her towards the door like this didn't happen. Okay. Then he's going to grab her ass and try to kiss her. Oh, I'm sorry. No, wait. No, no, no. I'm kidding. I'm just trying to... No, no. It's going to be at least a year before he tries that.

None of that happens. He just pushes her towards the door like, "Okay, yeah, I don't know what you're talking about." And then they get back out to the rest of the team. Before, like, Santos is just going to look to the desk and grab one of the keys and just bolt upstairs before anyone can even look at her. She's like, "I'm done. Fuck this. Bye." And she just goes like a bullet upstairs and tries to find whichever key goes to the room that she's going to be sleeping in now because it's the one she grabbed. So we've got three rooms, and I'm imagining that Santos and Julie are in a room.

Well, again, he just dropped a... Basically, you paid for three rooms or whatever, but he just... It's like, "Fuck, I don't care." Yeah, there's enough rooms for everyone to have a room. Okay, great. Cool. That's fine. Um, Bree would probably go find Una. I don't know where Una would be. Probably just in their room. She wouldn't be hard to find. Right. Possibly just sitting by the window, just being angry. Yeah, that's the thing. Bree would do that thing where she walks in and sort of knocks on the door frame, trying to get Una's attention. Yeah, Una's not pissed at her, so she would definitely just give her one of those "ugh" looks.

It's not that she's angry with Bree. It's just kind of a commiserating look, just like, "ugh, that went terribly." You doing okay? Okay, before anything else is talked about, you should probably tell me this stuff with you dying. I don't know what's going to happen, but I feel like I've been luckier than any one person deserves to be. And before I go any further, I don't want you to think that I'm not hugely appreciative of everything you went through to bring me back and all of that. Just shut up. Just give me the facts. Just... Una doesn't want to hear.

She's going to start getting emotional, and she doesn't want that at all. She's not feeling this gratitude. That just makes it worse. I think I pushed myself too hard. When I lost you in Odyssea, everything that happened with Strahd and all of that, I could feel something kind of tear inside me, and then between that and whatever the witch did to me, and then being bitten in the silver glade, I think I'm being kept alive. And I don't know what's going to happen after everything with the seal. I don't know if I'm being kept alive just long enough to get there and do what I'm supposed to do.

I don't know if... I don't even know if I'm going to make it there. I do know, though, if someone's going to open it. And I don't know if that's what we're going to do, but I think it should be me. So, Udo's going to kind of like, "Gee, she hasn't seen this coming, but this is not a surprise to her." That does not mean she wasn't in denial about it. Do you... Okay, two things. And she's not looking at Bree, she's just kind of staring at her feet and the window and the decorations on the walls, and just looking at anything except Bree. Okay, two things. One, do you feel like it's...

Do you feel like you're ready? Or it would be a relief? Do you... Would you not mind dying? If you're asking if I'd like this to stop, and to not have all this pressure and not have to worry about the end of the world, or dragons, or any of the things that we've had to go through, yeah, that would be nice. But if you're asking if I... If you're asking if I want to die, no. I don't... If there was a reality where we could just settle down and say, "Screw it," and people weren't relying on us, then I'd want that. So Udo will like give her like a tiny little smile, and say, "You know, I was thinking about that the other day, and how awesome it would be to just go, leave, settle down, maybe live near Jadzia." If you like Esther Holt, that is, you know, there's some shit there, memories.

But fuck, man, you're a scion, and I'm a paladin. I mean, what we do best, you and me personally, what we do best is kill people. So we'd have to run at least like a butcher shop. Cooking could be nice. I mean, I could learn a new skill, like something. Okay, so scrap number two. We... Pretty much the only way that you're gonna stay alive is if we get rid of your powers, right? I don't even know if that's possible. It's got... Look, if it's possible for demons to become into the world and the gods to be trapped in the souls of humans, then it's possible to get rid of your powers.

It's gotta be. Bree's gonna kind of roll the sleeve up again, and you're gonna see that inky shit, like kind of just underneath the surface, like where her veins would be and stuff, just that spread all the way up. I don't think this is going away, or not. Yeah, I think if it does, it's probably because either I die or that witch dies. Okay, we kill the witch. She's gonna actually chuckle at that. Like, "Yeah, sure, why not? We're just gonna walk up and punch Alvern in the face and be done with it. I don't know why we didn't think of this before." Well, there's literally another option.

And like, Una's giving a little smile now. It's kind of like, "Look, clearly you're not allowed to die. If you don't want to, then you don't get to. That's it. That's the end of that. So... we kill the witch." I don't even know if that's an option, like if it can be done. But I think we both need to start making peace with the fact that I'm probably going to die, Una. I don't want to. I want to live a boring life. I want to retire and we'll get a house right next to Jadzi and... and Valus. That would be fine, too. Well, maybe not right next to that. I don't want to hear that.

They don't want to hear that. I literally had to unmute, because on my wedding night, the house fucking shook. Fuck you. I imagine Valus, I think I said this in the episode, just like, "Get off me." Like, hello over there. Anyway. You know people are depending on us, though, right? Fuckers. I mean, I think they're all my friends and I love them, but fuck. I just, if you did, if you did have to die and the seal had to be opened or something and you had to die to do that... Look. I feel kind of outnumbered because literally nobody else believes that the gods exist.

But, I'd like to think that if they do exist, and you are the one to free them, and believe me, I don't want you to die. But if you were the one, at least that would mean that you get a good spot in the afterlife. I still believe that's the thing. I do. I'm sorry. It makes a lot of sense that it's not. It makes a lot of sense that the gods are just slightly less shitty demons. Sure, I don't care, but that's why I want the gods to be released. So that when you inevitably die, when I inevitably die, we'll finally maybe get something close to kind of the peace and the quiet and the enjoyment that we want in this life and there's no fucking chance of having.

She's gonna, she's gonna kind of give like this sad smile. I like the thought of that. That's... Yeah, me too. And people are being mean about it. She's gonna kind of like just like, just like, just hold me. And she's gonna kind of chuckle. Oh, Ordon seemed pretty on board. Ordon seemed pretty silent. Um, she would say, oh, and kind of take like a very gentle tone. Not everyone's as loud as you can be. Would it, would it mean that much if, if we opened it? Is that really what you want? Yeah, I, yep. I don't want to be because everyone doesn't want that that way, but this world is pretty shitty and we are very death prone people, you and I.

And I feel like the best chance of anything happening, happy ever happening to us is not in this life. So yeah, I do, I do want it open. But if that means you have to die and there's any chance of you not dying, we're taking the not dying route. I just want that to be in writing. Again, even if I didn't die at the seal, I don't know how long, I don't know how long I'd be alive after that. Best case scenario, whatever was keeping me alive with the witch, it keeps me alive for a little while longer. But even if she doesn't know exactly what's going on right now, I'd imagine it's going to become pretty clear after the blood moon passes and she doesn't get her way.

Fuck that witch, we gotta kill her then. We have to kill her. Let's maybe take this one step at a time, okay? I mean, yeah, right now, go to Imbeneiro, figure shit out, go to the north, get the seal figured out, you know. But in the long term... I would actually really like that. You're just gonna give her like a big smile. Like she's totally on board. We might have a hard time convincing the group though. You know what? I think there are probably enough enemies with witches made, we could probably convince enough people. She's gonna give a smile and then just sort of lean in and try and give Una a hug as long as that wouldn't offend her on some level.

No, yeah, she'd be fine with that. What would everyone else be doing downstairs? *mimics the sound of a dog eating* Is it pretty much just, is it still kind of sallow? Is it just kind of like ugh? Tonight has not been a good night for morale I feel. No. I don't know. I mean, I think it's... people have been able to say some stuff that they've wanted to say and... Yeah. I don't know, it feels like there's more of a solidification of where people are with things. I don't know if it's felt like a morale's low, I just feel like it's... the storm is literally here, but also I think metaphorically it's also here at the same time.

Like we're all sort of getting it. I like that. That's nice. So yeah, Merrick's brooding. He's just drinking. He's not upset or anything. He's just like, "Well, the night's done. I've said what I need to say and... Right. I'm just gonna keep drinking this until I'm ready to go to bed." Yeah, Kaluna would be just nursing their bottle. Just thinking a lot. Just sort of like tuning everything out and just sort of like, "Well, fuck." Well then how's about we get some rest and we adjourn for the evening and pick things up in the morning? Hopefully that storm will have stopped by then.

Who rolls for that? I know who. I know. No. We already rolled earlier. That goes into the intensity and everything. God damn it. It won't actually be over for nine days. It's biblical weather. Nine days and nine nights. The land was flooded. You're water people now. We're fishies. So picking things up the next day. The storm is going to dissipate over the course of several hours. I would say by morning it's stopped. The damage has been done though. The roads are pretty washed out. It's really crappy. It's gonna slow you guys down. But you can still travel freely. Nothing's blocked off.

Which is pretty good because that has happened before where towns will just kind of get shut off from one another until all the debris is cleared. And that could be a slow process sometimes. So you guys are in luck in that capacity. Gonna be a lot of puddles. A lot of stuff I got. A lot of downed trees though. You guys gonna get on the road? Well, first thing we need to do is just do something. Ask whoever we can. Whether it's on the street. Maybe we just canvas a little bit and go to a couple of places. Maybe ask the innkeeper if Drax around. Go ahead and ask him.

Not just here but around the town a little bit about Kal-Tos. Just to know what we're working with. If there's anything that comes up at all. So, okay. Two things. One, after Drax kind of slammed the door and left you guys that night, you didn't see him again. Awesome. Like he just walked away. Just left. There is a gentleman named Walter though. Who pretty much runs most days around here. So he would be sort of working the counter. And a little perplexed at the fact that there seems to be items missing from the kitchen and all this stuff. Just kind of like, "What the fuck?

How many people did we have here last night?" Because Drax didn't keep good records. Around town. If someone would like to do me a favor and roll a streetwise check. Something like that. Just to see what you pick up from the streets. I've got a plus nine. How's everybody else? I have plus fifteen. Oh yeah. Well maybe Una should do that. Okay. Anybody got better than that? I vote for Ordon. No. Well, Ordon's not looking for information on Kal-Tos, so. Twenty-three. Okay. No other Githserai coming through. Actually it's... It's actually a rare sight to see a Githserai in these parts.

So people will be talking about it, but it'd be Thanatos. It wouldn't be anyone else. No one who's traveled through town at all. So you are the latest travelers to come through town and not even in the last few days, week, something like that. No other Githserai. You're not hearing about anyone else like that. I'd also like to check and see if there's anyone in town who's like kind of known to be like, "Oh, he's like kind of associated with the bandits." Or like, you know, just get a feel for that. If that streetwise check is good for it. Oh! That is not a thing around here.

Okay. Anyone with a criminal past, just because of its proximity to bandits' rest, anyone with a criminal past is really looked down upon. Because there's this weird fear of like, "Oh, you're going to try and get into the... you're going to try and open our gates in the middle of the night and let them in." Or something like that. There's a real fear of that. That's kind of a widespread panic type of thing. So people really try and stick to the straight and narrow. Okay. So other than that, nothing crazy eventful. So either he headed in a different direction or avoided town completely or something.

Murdered all the bandits. Maybe. Maybe that's... maybe two problems just took care of themselves. Boom. Merrick is going to just, you know, grab Thanatos whenever he can. And, you know, I don't know how we're doing this exactly, but I just imagine we're just sort of asking around a little bit and sort of regrouping. But just say to Thanatos, "There's not much to go on and the roads are washed out. I think the trail's cold for now, but it's not forgotten, okay?" Is that going to work for you? Thanatos is going to look kind of like out of it. Like she's really tired, even though she got plenty of sleep, because I'm not sure if it still affected her after, I imagine a little bit.

Tiny bit of a hangover. Some people have a lower tolerance. And she has no endurance. I don't know why, because it seems like... but it's because all of her power comes from power, not like physical strength. So yeah, she's just going to nod quickly and say, "It's better that way, I'm sure." This is your call. If you want us to keep trying, we can keep trying. We've got the time to look and the time to think. Otherwise we can get on the road. So your call, okay? He's trying to empower her. That's what Oprah calls it, "empowerment." Oh my god, I'm trying to Oprah her.

And you get a sion, and you get a sion. And you get a carriage, and you get a carriage. She'll nod and then immediately after shake her head, like she's like, "Yeah, I understand, but no." Let's go help your friend, alright? That's all she really took from this, is like, "Jadzia equals friend." She doesn't really know what's up. She's just like, "Darmok bad, tree good, Jadzia friend." That's all she's got. Okay, well, I mean, Merrick's going to try to make efforts to just get on the road and start getting out to Uminyura. As just a flavor thing, I don't actually want to roleplay this, but while everyone else is being helpful and looking for Kal'tos, Kaluna would try to find their friend that they asked about werewolves last time just to say hi.

Just like, "Hey, how you doing? Nice weather yesterday, right?" Hey, Kaluna's a nice person. Again, her name is Zunora. Not useless, just getting started. She's really hit up Lero. You're mean. Somebody's a bully. I am such a bully. So, packing up in the Griswold family cruiser here, and we're gonna hit the road. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat d20 to see how well this journey is going to go? You know who I don't think has had to do this in a while? Izzy. Izzy, you are going to get ready and roll us a flat d20 to see how well this journey is going to go toward Uminyura.

Is that really a good idea? I don't feel like I can roll back. I think it's a fantastic idea. It can't be worse than Orton. Are you sure? Maybe I can. Why did I open my mouth? It's better than Orton. Relax. I will take this one. Who dies? Guys? No. I think it's a good time for us to stop this evening. No, no. For those of you at home, that is a two. That will be the third time in a row that we ended on a bad roll. I know. But it could be a good roll. You said you could literally roll a two and it would still be better than I would theoretically roll. I'm holding you to that.

Yeah, I admitted it. I'm not on your case. You did better than me. Everyone else is giving you a hard time, but they suck. No, no, no. I'm blaming myself because I said words. We kind of have an interview early in the morning tomorrow and... Shit. Fuck. I have to work early in the morning tomorrow. You know what else is wrong? Mac can't roll shit for fear of breaking the table. That's another thing? Oh, that's true. Well, you could try right now and see if that's really... Oh, yeah, try it. Yeah, let's see what happens. Here, let's roll something. If she's on the floor, we need to do something.

Hey, we can keep playing. Look at that. The table just crashed. What? No, it didn't. I shit you not. I swear to God. Hold on. It'll take a minute for it to react on our ends, but I believe it. That would be a dumb thing to lie about. So, Mac, you're... Do you see that? Yeah, I'm the problem. I will take all the heat. Wow. Yep. You made sure to use "show window" and not "show desktop" so that we wouldn't see all the porn you have open. I want to do that. Oh, grunts. Grunts. Two... I'm... I'll show you right now. Hold on. I don't even have porn open. I don't even have porn.

Click, click, click, click. Look, watch. Click, click, click. Now I'll show you. I want to share screen. There you go. Boom. Look at that. Blam. Right there. Blam. Just close it. Just close the window. That's porn. As far as I'm concerned, that's porn. There it is. There's your map. I can't see. It's not opening for me. So there's an overwhelming majority of reasons we should stop. That's like eight or nine. Yeah, it's like eight or nine. Fine. Which sucks, because we didn't get as far as I would have liked us to get, but we got role play in, so I'm okay. Yeah, I think we got some good stuff.

We got some work in. Can I just say, after the conflict scene, my tummy actually hurt, like as if I got into a real fight with someone. Oh my God. I was like, "God damn it. Really, body? You know this is fake, right?" Like, I was really mad. I'm fine now. That's good. Can I delete my grunts folder now? No. I want you to have a grunts folder and then a hard grunts folder. Yeah. And then a sexy grunts. Well, they're all sexy, Jason. And then some grunts. Sexy? Question mark grunts? Sexy question mark. Alright, guys. I'm sorry we have to stop now, but we'll... No. That was great.

That was fun. Yeah. I will see you guys... No! I'm disappointed we have to stop, honestly. We literally have an appointment with a sponsor bright and early tomorrow. Okay. I hope that goes well. It's high time, which is super fucking early for me. Thank you, guys. I'll try to be awake. Well, if not, I'll take care of it. It's cool. Are you talking to Monte Cook Games? No, no. They're very nice, though. I would not put Monte Cook Games off the table, though. No, I think you should talk to Shauna and be like, "What do you want to do?" Shauna was a fucking sweetheart, so...

Dude, she really was. Anyway... And like continued to be after the con. Didn't have to be. Yeah, she could have stopped right then. Like, yeah. That was nice. The obligation to each other is done. Yeah. Okay. All right, guys. See you later. That was great. Thank you. Bye. So if things go well, ask Atlanta Cutlery if they can get me a good Nagasaki. Okay. I will ask them if they have that cocktail on file. Yeah, that sounds delicious. Right? Okay. Bye, guys. Bye. See you, guys. Bye. Thank you guys so much for listening. We really hope you enjoyed today's episode. Again, if you go to patreon.com/dandr, you can help support the show, keep the lights on, get bonus content for episodes and behind-the-scenes stuff, character chats, and all kinds of stuff.

On top of that, if you go to dandrpodcast.com, that is the hub where you can find everything. The Facebook, Twitter, all that stuff. Plus, we have the wonderful Wiki headlined by Steve, who keeps all that stuff up to date. And of course, the forums. You can go and give your opinions on what you just heard, and I'm sure the people in the forums would love to talk to you about it. So thank you so much, and we will see you next week with a brand new episode. episode.