Bigger and Better Things

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

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Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. 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. Ark 2, episode 29 of the DNR podcast is brought to you by the lovely folks over at patreon.com/dandr. If you visit our Patreon, you'll find a ton of exclusive content only available to patrons and we'll give you a bit more information after the show. But without further ado, let's get to today's episode. Previously for Group A, after making it to the city of Winterhaven and wrapping up their previous quests, they were paid for their hard work and they tackled their next big adventure.

Putting on a play for the entire city of Winterhaven. After only a week of practice, the team did remarkably well and just about everyone in the theater walked away very happy. And that's where we join our team this evening. Picking things up just after the show. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm James and I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, start with James. Hey James, I play Esnoma Soka, the half-elf rogue. And Robert. Hey, I'm Rob. I'm playing Ubo, the half-orc druid of the mountain. And Kelsey. I'm Kelsey and I'm playing Aster, the elf archer.

And Michael. Hey, I'm Michael and I play Amvin, the half-elf wizard. And Susan. Hey, I'm Susan and I play Madeline, Ryoin, the human cleric. And Xavier. Hey, I'm Xavier and I play Donovan, the human fighter. So today's going to be a bunch of fun. And I'm going to get into what we're going to do in just a little bit. But first, I want to pick up directly after this play. Because I want to ask you guys some questions. So obviously this thing is a huge hit. And the crowd goes wild. You guys take your bowels. I imagine people want your autographs and stuff like that.

It's just a generally... It's just an awesome feeling, right? How do you guys go out and celebrate? Is there like a cast after party type thing? Do you... Oh, you know it. Okay. I was going to be drinking. There was actually something that I wanted Maddie to do. Like directly after. As soon as the curtain went down. Okay. I wanted to do this last time, but we ended on a great moment. Okay. So as soon as Ubo and Misoka rush or get off the stage. Like she's behind the stage. She's had been doing special effects. And you could still hear the cheering out in the crowd.

You know, all this elation, high spirits. She's going to bum rush and hug Misoka. Aww. Like, "Oh, you did so great out there. That was amazing." And then like realize that she's hugging him. And they have been awkward the whole last week. Do that thing where you look away or step back real fast. Oh, probably blush and then go run over to Ubo and give him a hug. Okay. Misoka will probably be left a little dumbfounded. Kind of like... Yeah, the same thing. Probably like a little awkward and definitely not expecting it. Ubo with one big massive hand kind of pats Maddie on the head as she hugs him.

And then says, "This is done, right? Never again." She's going to pull away. Yes, no more. I'm done too. No, not the acting. Yes, no more of this. And she's going to do a hand gesture towards the stage. And I imagine she actually got baby oil on her because it wasn't Ubo. Shiny abs. I'm going to the outskirts to roll in dirt. Have a good night. I'm probably going to get Amphan to clean me up. Because this is like a nice theater, I imagine they're all dressed up too. Because it's like theater night. Yeah, it's definitely a stepping out type of thing. People kind of put on their best stuff.

Yeah, so this probably is like Maddie's best dress. So she's looking down at it covered in oil and she's like, "Oh, yeah, I'll get Amphan to clean this." Amphan hears and shakes his head. I didn't mean to. Comes up and prestidigitation, cleans it off and then gives you a hug saying, "You did awesome too." Oh, my God, those effects were great. You did so good. I messed it up, but you did so good. It was a team effort and as a team, we were awesome. So this goes on for a while, I would imagine with people, for the most part, filing out of the theater eventually.

But there's kind of a buzz on the streets of Winter Haven. It's, imagine this shared community thing because everyone's kind of everywhere nowadays. But when there's only one gig in town, everyone's talking about that one gig. So this play is all that most people are talking about. And I would say if you guys were to visit a tavern or eating establishment or something like that, you'd probably be treated to a few drinks and a meal. This would probably be a situation where if they knew you're attached to the play, obviously, you know, Masaoka and Ubo could probably walk in and it's like, "Oh, yeah, that's it." But anybody who was associated with the play at all would probably be conned.

Just throwing that out there. Well, what Donovan would do definitely is just bring his entourage backstage, do a meet and greet thing with the artist and say, "Hey, meet my new friend. This is Maddie. She was taking care of the lights and the sound effects. And oh, look, this is Masaoka." Just trying to get people to mingle and then probably try to meet. I don't know if there's any dignitaries or important people coming backstage as well. He'd try to mingle himself as well. And then when everything's wrapping up, he would probably try to get everyone to agree on a place to go.

I don't know if we'd want to go back to the tiny bear. Yeah, I don't think we could go there. What's the fanciest place? What if I stayed in costume? Masaoka said costume. I'll recognize what is he with the costume on. Well, okay. There's two different ways to look at this. Yes, you were ejected from the bar a week ago. One, it has been a week and he didn't say never come back, but it's just kind of till the heat dies down. Now, you could either go to a fancier establishment. Tina's Tavern, they serve more expensive drinks. It's a bit more of a high class establishment.

However, if you were to go back to the thin bear and you're bringing other patrons and stuff, that's a pretty good markup for business. You could say, "Oh man, the actors from this awesome play are drinking here. You should too." That type of thing. And isn't the thin bear right next to the theater? Relatively close, yeah. The origin story is the tiny bear. So that is completely up to you, but I don't imagine a sore would be too terribly angry. Now, if Chad was floating around, I don't know. Did we get paid? Can we afford Tina's? Oh yeah, you guys are... Well, the payment will probably be taken care of the next day because they're still counting ticket sales and all that type of stuff.

Again, you'd probably be comped at least a couple of drinks. Because again, it's good for business. Tina, Tina, Tina. Let's go high class. So how much would that cost us, the actual numbers then? Is it good drinking? Yeah, oh wait, so we're good? Here's the thing. Because of the high profile nature of this stuff, you'd probably be able to walk in and it's like, "Oh yeah, I was wondering if me and several dozen of my friends could come in here." So it would probably be like you guys, the core party, "Oh yeah, you guys can drink for free tonight because you've given us all this business and we can advertise for it." Okay, sweet, so we don't have to pay anything.

Awesome. Alright, it's the best kind of news. That's just another side benefit of how well you did at putting on this play. We can go to Tina's. I'm not going to stop you guys from going anywhere. This is a night to enjoy before we're back on the road. Yeah, let's do it. So let me ask a question with that. You guys left Winterhaven weeks and weeks ago to perform a mission, right? And I imagine it's to make a name for yourselves, to get a little coin in your pocket, to just basically strike out and make a living. Having been circulating for a few weeks out and about and you get back to the city, Amven sounds like he's ready to get back out there and keep going.

Is that a sentiment shared by the rest of the party? Yes. Yep. Yeah, Donovan's ready to go outside of it still, but he's getting comfortable with Winterhaven as his home base. Ah, okay. But now that he's seen Orcs, he's seen elves, he's starting to think about where the next destination could be. He's not necessarily thinking at the moment, "Where will the group go back?" He's still thinking, "Where will I go back again?" But who knows? Maybe we're going to share a common goal. Ubo is literally outside of the town right now and cannot wait to go further.

That's kind of what I figured from Ubo. Yes. He is taking his ritual dust bath and looking longingly at the mountain. He's like a chinchilla. And Jason tonight, I want to do some research tonight. So... A specific... Nerd. Say that again? Specifically on the gate, I'm imagining? Gate, but a little more... When we get there, I'll talk about it. Okay, sure. So Tina's Tavern is run by a half-elf named Tina D'Angelo, and it is probably the swankiest place in Winterhaven to drink. And this is not a city known for its opulence or... It's not very over-the-top, but this is definitely usually a pretty quiet, classy establishment.

I would say that a large group of people are out drinking firstly, just first and foremost. So the Thin Bear, Tina's Tavern, those establishments are just packed. Because it's just people out and about. They're kind of buzzing. They're looking to spend money, basically. So when you get there, this place is going to be pretty full, and it's up to you or not whether you'd like to play the VIP card. You're just like, "Oh, but we were in the pla--" That type of thing. Because there's a bouncer at this establishment. They would make room for you. They'd clear a table for you guys.

Yes, that's exactly the card Donovan's playing. He's the group manager. I feel like I would be behind him and they'd be like, "Oh, it's Ambin." Donovan, who's been the PR rep, and then, "Wait, who are you?" And then realizing, putting it all together when he sees the group. Right. Because first you're like, "Is this a spam message? Oh no, this is true." So when you're saying it's fancy, how fancy is it? Well, okay. The Thin Bear is pretty much your standard average person's tavern, right? The drinks are fairly cheap. It's got kind of a rustic quality like the rest of the city.

There's even a bare-knuckle boxing den underneath. It's a very common man type thing. The Tienes Tavern is more of an establishment where you're going to get a better quality of drink. It's usually pretty quiet. They have live performances for music and stuff like that. And it's just got a richer atmosphere. The wood is a better quality. When you walk in, it smells nicer. There's usually something being made food-wise, and they really push appetizers and stuff like that at tables. They're very full service there. But tonight it's going to be a bit louder because these people are just abuzz.

Like I said, if you were to walk in and they're going to clear a table off for you, like sort of a VIP section thing. So like a booth. You're going to hear people talking about the play just over and over again. And you know what? I'm going to roll something really quickly. [Singing] Masocha? Yes? Could you do me a favor and roll a Perception check? You betcha. Oh no. Okay. So as you're walking by, you're going to pick up one. You're going to pick up. There are a trio of ladies sitting at a table. As you're walking by, they're going to talk about how sexy the guy playing Malchus Grimness was.

Just how smooth and just gushing about it. He's got a seven out of ten ass. And he sounded just like Malchus. So would he be recognizable? Because you said in the last episode he sounded like Malchus. Like he looked like Malchus. I would say it's a thing that you'd probably have to present yourself. It's like, oh actually I was that guy. That type of thing. And it might take a little bit of convincing or something because the makeup was so good. It's like when an actor does a blistering transformation type thing. It's like, oh my god, that's who that was? Holy crap.

That was great. Did you take your stuff off? What's something that you're still wearing? I know, you probably took it off just because... By hot. Well, he's not used to being out open. His life and profession has been hiding and being sneaky. He probably would have contemplated it and then had second thoughts. But probably more wants to blend in right now while still taking in the excitement. So if he hears this while he's walking by, if anything, he would just get a big smile and a big confidence boost. Okay. That's kind of what I figure. But yeah, it's obviously a really nice compliment, that type of thing.

So you guys have this private VIP table and they are going to dope over you, right? They're going to, like, I'm imagining you're ordering drinks, maybe a little food, that type of thing. Like the sampler platter, please. So they bring out the quesadillas and onion rings and some chicken fingers, that type of thing. And the mozzarella sticks. Oh, the mozzarella sticks. Yes, I'm sorry. You can tell what kind of restaurants we all frequent. Bar and grills. Yeah. So at a certain point in the evening, probably fairly soon after you guys arrive. And just for clarification's sake, this is everyone but Ubo.

Yeah, I think so. That's correct. Ubo is, you're correct that Ubo is absent. Yes. I'm just making sure. I know Ubo is gone, but I want to make sure that. So Ubo's enjoying his nice little walk. The rest of the party is in this booth and they will, the servers are going to announce that you guys are here. They'll kind of get everybody's attention, attention. We have the performance of this place and they're going to get everyone to focus on you guys. One, because it keeps people drinking. It keeps people like it's like, oh, wow. That type of thing. They're hobnobbing with celebrities now.

That type of thing. And everyone's going to clap and kind of whistle and just generally bask in your presence here. And then they'll slowly go back to eating and drinking. That type of thing. But everyone, you'll notice that people are glancing over a lot more than they were a few minutes ago when they didn't know who you were. I just want to make clear that I brought with us like my psycho fence. Is that what you call them? Psychofence? Psychofence? Psycho. My friends. They could be psychos. Well, they could be, yeah. And like I imagine them like just standing by our booth, just like trying to have a room with you.

They're just standing? Well, there's no place in our booth. They're like, there's like 12 of them. That's so weird. I mean, it's still a bar. Is Leroy with us? Here's the thing about Leroy, and I wanted to get into this. Leroy probably stayed at the theater for quite some time. Probably till pretty much everyone else had gone. And you guys hanging out with him for the time that you did, you really got the sense that this is like a gambler. This is like someone betting it all on black, that type of thing. Like they need a win. And that's exactly what it was for him.

So he's probably pretty shell-shocked from it. And while he wanted to kind of bask in that audience reception, I think more than that, he wants to keep this going. He wants this to be his career again. Like he wants to be at that peak. So he's probably really just kind of enjoying the feeling of the theater. Tomorrow he goes to rehab. Changed man forever. So you guys are in this really fancy bar, and there's people paying attention to you. Is there anything the group wants to talk about, or do you just want to fast forward time? I'd fast forward time. Donovan would just keep complimenting everyone on their wonderful job.

And just keep reintroducing people constantly. Once in a while probably bring the attention of newcomers in the bar to say, "Hey, this is the Malchus's Odyssey cast." And just keep that high going as long as possible. Is there dancing or anything going on here? It's not really that kind. It's not so much a nightclub type of bar. It's honestly elbow to elbow, that type of thing. There's so many people. Okay. And I'm not... And Evan's not drinking a whole lot tonight, but he's just having a few. But nothing that's going to impair him. I would say that Masoka is actually watching himself.

Oh. Normally he'd be like, you know, give him the hard stuff and watch me chug it. But he's actually being a little conscious of what he's doing tonight. Hmm. She gets out to relax. Hmm. Yes. But he's just a little more conscious of himself. He doesn't want to embarrass himself in front of somebody. I was going to say, I think he's figured out that there might be more hugs in his future if he's good. Right. So yeah, he's taking it easy. I think Astor is probably a bit uncomfortable with all of the attention and everything. And everyone waiting on them and getting the free food and drink and stuff.

But it's kind of like they've never really experienced anything like this before. So it's kind of like, there's a bit sort of enjoying it, but also kind of ready for the night to be over. It's not there. They just look kind of uncomfortable. Do I spot that? Probably, yeah. That's probably pretty apparent. And we would probably be like telling Astor, you know, it's kind of like this when we came back with Malchus and the treaty in the first place. I mean, granted, it wasn't really my light like this time where it's like all up in here, but it's enjoy it while it lasts.

And then there won't be as many people in the future. We'll just be on the road. So enjoy what we can and then it'll pass. And they're like, Maddie's probably a little uncomfortable with all this too. Not like just wow, this is this isn't the usual. So she's probably sitting next to Astor like, yeah, this is a lot, isn't it? Yeah. We just have to this one night and then we'll move on to the next job, I guess. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It just. This is not what I'm used to. Exactly. But if we get free food and then she's going to pick up something and eat it, be like, yay.

Oh, yeah. Free food's definitely a plus. But we would actually feel like I kind of earned it, though. Yeah. You did so good. They all look so great. America kind of like blush a bit and look down to start to like think. I mean, it was such a group effort. I mean, I honestly have never done anything like that before. I mean, yeah, like makeup here and there in disguises and stuff, but body oil is not the first. It was kind of get get like a bit like a great. It's like that was kind of fun. Pretty much drowning new bone. But not going to lie. When you set out from the evergreen, did you imagine yourself oiling up abs before?

God, no. Maybe a few dreams, but nothing like this. Well, I say we go out on top. We we we did our we did a play and we're done with it. Right. This is that. I'll be down. You know, I mean, granted, I mean, it was a business venture in here. No, just kidding. No, I like my research. Got some places to go. I don't think the theater is is for me. I enjoyed it. It was fun, although I'm definitely looking forward to reading some books and not being around so many people. Yeah. So let's do this. Let's say that the evening starts to wind to a close. It's getting late.

You know, some of the people in the bar are are are slowly leaving. As you guys finally make your way out, you know, I imagine you say goodbye to the entourage. You you just got I was just going to say no, not tonight. I thought I was going to try to get lucky with some of them. And he also drank too much. And I was going to be a mess. So he's OK. So he's getting a little handsy, maybe like a little like familiar. Just just seeing who's interested. Yeah, exactly. Very respectful. He like he he knows him a little bit. He knows no means no. So just be aware that we just.

Yeah, I wasn't like you're using your celebrity to to know. Do me a favor. Roll a charisma check. Hold on. OK, there it is. Oh, yes. Oozing. Oh, yeah. You. Donovan's probably one of those people who is a pretty functional drunk. And maybe that's with years of practice. Maybe that's maybe he hides it well, something like that. But I would almost say that Donovan comes off as smoother, as probably more relaxed when when he's had a few. I would say a couple of people are probably interested in spending the evening with Donovan. Great. No need for details. No need for details.

You fill in the blanks at home. The only extrovert in the group. I just want to say just one thing before that moment's gone. But like when when Donovan noticed that Masocha was like, was trying, like controlling himself, like that's very unconventional for Masocha not to drink. Like Donovan just he did pick up on it at some point, like and let Masocha know, like with a wink or something and a smile, like an approving smile. Yeah. Yeah. He'll get that. Would he be sitting beside? No, like across the table, probably. OK. Then he'd just gesture like, I get what you get.

Yeah. Um, Maddie. Mm hmm. Do me a favor, roll a perception check. Nope. OK. Never mind. Seven. So you guys are going to wind the evening down and let's pick things up on the fifth of Ferriore. Now, the new day has dawned. You guys are it sounded like you're ready for your next job. So I did want to say the night before the study. Yes, please. Yeah. Specifically, I want to be like he look up maps and looking for all references of different places where either more gates or related technology to kind of be like looking out for places so that when he looks for new jobs, looking to correlate.

The two. I would say if on a purely surface level through those notes and everything like that, you'd probably you'd probably know about on a call at the very least, which is one of the only two destinations on on a Laura so far where where gates have been found. So that's that's definitely going to come up. You're definitely going to know about that. There's only talk about gates in this, right? There's no like other like associate technology or yet. Yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't say that that's what these are very focused on that. Like you get the sense that Finway, the person studying this is very single minded about this one topic like trying to trying to further study and trying to unlock some sort of potential like the ability to fast travel across the continent would be amazing.

That would be life saving in in a in a lot of circumstances. So, yeah. In Amven's mind, he's trying to look for either another source or another place to go and maybe find another or find someone else's notes or any other stuff. So he can try to overlap the notes and find new things. Donovan, could you do me a favor and roll a constitution save? All right. It's redemption time. This is how many STDs you have. Oh, 22. You are guilty. That's a lot of them. Yeah. Donovan's going to wake up and feel refreshed and maybe that night off, just that maybe maybe that night in the city, recharging was just the thing because there's a spring in Donovan's step.

Yeah, it just it just feels great. Cool. Well, I mean, new day, new dawn. Get people out of here and going to pay pay up from a tab, which is going to be pretty expensive. I think it's been a week, right? So it's like you said it was like four or five gold. So like it's like thirty five gold, I guess. It depends on how much you've done there. So if you got the full service every day, like, oh, clean this, take care of this, bring this into ordering room service type of stuff. Like, it depends on how nuts you went. I did. Oh, well, it's probably close. It's probably between thirty five and forty gold then.

OK, let's I'm going to round up to forty because I tip well. Oh, very much appreciated. That's my eight gold for the suit last time. That's forty eight gold this week. Yikes. How much do I have? Fifty five. All right. Down to my math skills. Here's the thing. Adventure is looking good. Yeah, that's that's that's you can't spend it when you're dead. So that's actually that's there are more people doing that than you'd think, especially if you're an adventurer. It's not a it's not a vocation with a rich retirement package, usually. So Donovan needs a job now. So he's going to check in with the his his previous employers, the Therian mailing service, and firstly, apologize for missing an action for a month.

And then he'll check out if there's like any local errands to do, but like nothing, nothing too far, nothing too far for now. Just like nothing, nothing scene worthy. And yet they there's always local stuff. Aubrey, Durnhollow, that type of thing. Every once in a while, stuff going to Ebony Harbor. And they they always have packages or letters going out as far as bright ports, stuff like that. Depends on what you're after. The rest of the party is once you guys meet up for the day, is it are you just looking for your next job or are you looking to do some stuff in the city first?

Is there a magic shop in the city? Sure. Yeah, I was going to ask if we could do some shopping. Well, you might want to get paid for your last job first. Oh, yeah. I just checked my inventory. That was way more than I expected. I already had. Oh, I'm paid yet. Oh boy. That was for the orc stuff. Oh, yeah. Donovan just remembered that, too. And is also going to get his. Boy, it's a good thing to remember now. You know, it's nice. There's there's usually characters a little more frugal with their money. It's kind of nice to see someone who would frequent establishments that are off the beaten path a little bit and indulge in some stuff.

Got to stimulate the economy, man. Investing it back in the city is is always appreciated. Do you want to take care of getting paid first or do you want to go shopping first? Well, paid. OK. Yeah, better shopping. So for that, you got to speak to Simone and that is the city contact, your representative to the council and to a lesser extent, Nathaniel. So first of all, she was in attendance for that play last night and the first words out of her mouth, like if you were to go into the the office, she's wearing this kind of long red robe. The sleeves are like super baggy and stuff.

And she she usually has her hands locked in front of her. So the the arms of the robe are just kind of like you don't even see your hands most of the time. But she's going to she's going to raise her hands as soon as she sees you guys and just gush about the play and just, you know, how what an amazing job you did with such little time. And she kind of makes an offhanded remark. It's like, I can't wait to see what you do with with some more time on your hands with a month or two. This this was a favor for Leroy and and, you know, you know, maybe maybe in a month he'll he'll have another play and a whole new crew.

I mean, he helped. But we are today. So maybe he may have something surprising next time. He contacted us this morning and told us he's working on something completely new and we should be able to see a draft of it in the next few weeks. Well, that's great. Imagine what he could do with trained actors. And she's going to motion for for all of you to come in. There's there's there's seating here, kind of like a nice like couch chair set up. Please, please come in and make yourselves at home. Ubo just kind of leans up against a door frame. Oh, he's back? Well, I'd imagine the next day.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. The next day he's found his way back to you guys. He didn't want to get left behind. He didn't just wander off into the mountains. Just just keep walking. And he was never seen again. She would she would take a seat in front of you guys. And she has she has a bunch of parchment paper with her. Well, as long as you're all still interested, there's there's plenty of work to do for the city. And she has this look on her face like it's kind of presupposing. It's like, you know, if you if you're still interested, awesome. But kind of like, please be interested.

This is my home. Of course, I'm interested in all things that Bitterhaven wants to do to better the world. I won't lie to you. We're we're a fairly large city. And with that comes some fairly large problems. But you have more than shown us that you're a group that knows how to get things done. So if it's all right with you, I'm just going to present the most pressing matters and you have your pick of the litter. Name a moth. And she's going to start she's going to start filing through these papers. Well, first of all, the information you've given us about the new fall is very concerning.

Is there anything more you know about that besides the notes that you've given us? I mean, they were taking some orcs. Did did anyone else catch anything? And I feel like it's been six months. Is there anything that we haven't told them? I feel like you guys were pretty straightforward about it. Yeah. I don't feel like we would have kept anything away. And she would wait for a little bit and seeing that it's you know, you guys are pretty much tap for info. Well, like I said, it's a bit of a concern if you were at all interested in investigating the new vol and finding out exactly where they might be or where they might be taking slaves.

It's something we could dedicate some serious resources to once we have some more information. And every time the word new vol is said, Maddie's like visibly getting tenser. But not saying anything like like like Astor kind of like subtly try and like catch Maddie's eye and kind of like sort of like mouth like, like, would you be OK with that? Like, it's obviously like a pretty personal subject for her. Like, I don't know if she would. Maddie would just like do like that one shoulder shrug. Were the orcs, I know the orcs were going to hunt them down. Were they waiting for us to figure out where they were?

I don't remember that. The orcs would probably be on their own on that one. That's more of a personal vendetta thing. But the problem with the orcs right now is the Mozog's numbers don't rival the Bruegals, obviously. So their resources are are pretty slim and they're still kind of waiting for some kind of attack from the elves. Like they won't say it, but they're ready for it in case it happened. So that's the thing that they're not they're not willing to dedicate a ton of people just to ship them out into the world and take their chances. As the topic of like tangling with the nouval comes up, Ubo just chimes in from the back.

I'm sure all of these tasks have their own rewards, but stopping the nouval, killing the nouval would be rewarding in itself. How does Maddy respond to him saying that? Fist clenching, but still not saying anything. I'd say Amven. I guess Amven might see it if it's obvious enough. Yeah, she's just being quiet. She's not really hiding her reaction. Well, you said you had multiple items. Let's put this on the list and see what else we have that we could help out with and see what comes up. Yeah, anything like with minotaurs or anything. And she's going to look at you kind of quizzically.

I feel like, like, would anyone not? That's such a weird... That's so that's so specific. That's so like, huh? Soak his eyes would widen and be like... Add on or on a call? She's going to after the eyes, like just kind of looking quizzically at Donovan, just yes, as a matter of fact, that that is on the list. That's so strange. Lucky guess. I'm just going to run down this list. You don't have to make a decision now, by the way. You're more than entitled to take time. Get back to us when you can. There's nothing you have to rush into. Brightport is actually celebrating its centennial this year, and as part of a partnership with them, we wanted to gift the city with some custom made rings that we've had made for the houses and the mayor.

That's something we are going to need delivered. And these are... No. Master's going to perk up at that. Would, uh, would, would, was with Soak saying, nope. Yeah. Okay. Just nope. No. Can't go there. Cannot go there. I was just going to kind of like glance towards him a bit quizzically. I'm a bit of a wanted man there. Not by the law. Just some people I kind of ran out on that made a lot of money off me. And now they don't. So I can't go there. Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. No, no, that's okay. I just, just so everyone knows. Not my favorite neck of the woods. Well, we also have dignitaries from Esther Holt visiting and this one's a bit of a dangerous one, and it's not necessarily one I would recommend to you, but it would pay phenomenally.

Esther Holt is a city has suffered from dragon attacks in recent years. It's devastated the small portions of the city where the attacks took place. And as you can imagine, having a large black dragon in what used to be Odysseus is concerning being as how they're the next closest city. There are people paying top dollar to find out more about this black dragon, any weaknesses it might have, or maybe even trying to find out its, its possible intentions. And she's going to let that hang in the air. Like she, she didn't think that Brightport would get such a negative reaction.

Now she's getting to the dragon thing. She's like, oh, boy, this is this is... Okay, Esther's going to kind of like, like, talk the head of it. Like, like, how would we find out its intentions? Like go up and ask it? No, no, no, no, that no, this would be more studying the creature trying to find out its, its eating habits, its flight patterns, if it intends to stay in the city for much longer. Well, I enjoy a research subject just as much as anyone else. Of course, I'm saying that. This one feels like the risk level is a little high. Yeah, I've come close to being on the bad end of a dragon way too recently to go up and close and personal with one again.

Once is more than enough. It's, it's phenomenally dangerous. It's, I figured I would ask, are you familiar with the fire aisles at all? Nope. I might be. She wrote a history check. Go right ahead. I mean, I figured it's a thing that's like, Esther's like heard of it. It's like a place. I don't know what that place is. Wait, is a cleric of a monitor, right? Yep. So there's a temple there. So. Yep. Get a roll of something. Go ahead. Nope. I'm staying strong at four. It's a lesser known temple. It's yeah, it's off the beaten path. Well, for those of you who don't know, it's a chain of aisles that are south of Fair Bay.

About a month ago, there was a man that washed up on shore in Fair Bay. Their fishing boats actually rescued him, and he was very badly injured and rambling, raving almost incoherently about danger on the island. And then he passed away that evening, actually. We received word about this, but no one really knows what could be going on there. They, for the most part, haven't had much contact with anyone from the island in quite a long time. Do you know if the man was an elf? Not to my knowledge. I believe he was human. Okay. I think everyone's looking physically at you now.

Yeah? Yeah. Really weird question. I know a guy out at sea. Just want to make sure. Oh. I just want to be glib, but did you actually say what the Minotaur thing was? Well, speaking of the Minotaur, again, that's such a strange coincidence. Larys Darkhoof, who has led the Minotaur for many years now, is trying to find a new home for his people. Apparently there are two camps. There's a large grouping of Minotaur that have left and went to live in Ebony Harbor. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. The Minotaur protect the town, and in turn they get food and shelter.

However, there's a larger group of Minotaur that are very unhappy with their current living situation and... Lumen. There's a Minotaur named Lumen who is set to take over for Larys shortly. And she wants to lead the Minotaur back to Stonesunder and fight the dwarves. And obviously this would be tremendously devastating. And Larys has all but said that they would probably lose that fight. And she, again, letting this hang in the air to see what your general reaction would be. So what would we be doing about that? Did you say that out loud? Yeah. Well, there are no easy answers, obviously.

But if perhaps we could find a new home for the Minotaur that would be suitable for them, that they would be happy with? Or perhaps convince Lumen to put off plans to outright war with the dwarves? Or maybe we could reach some sort of peace between the Minotaur and dwarves and find a new home for them in the mountain? That was gonna chuckle. Isn't that what we do? Astor's gonna kind of like... I don't know what word expression he's gonna make a comment like, "Yes, rehoming the orcs went so well." Well, actually when Simone would start talking about Minotaur and dwarves, Donovan would actually show interest.

Okay. And if she noticed that, it would probably be a thing where she's like, "Okay, that's another nibble. Okay, well let's pursue that." The only... The fire isles one, Anven was pulling out his map when he talked about it. So there was interest there. Oh, if Anven has a map over that would be great because I feel like Astor's trying to figure out, "Wait, that's south, right?" Yeah. He's like, "Yeah, it's this close to Amichal. All right. And this close to Odysseus." He's basically playing the math game of mists. Yeah, Astor's peeking over his shoulder. [Laughter] And Simone would speak up.

Normally this is a job we'd send diplomats on, but you've shown a remarkable tenacity in being able to broker a peace between the elves and orcs. That's something we didn't think we'd be able to accomplish ever, but even a temporary ceasefire is tremendous. You might be able to do some real good here. Where are the other orcs? Aren't they nearby between the Stone Sunder Mountains? They are situated in a place called the Divide, which is just south of Stone Sunder and north of Donhurst and the Deadwood. Okay. And then we go into the Thunderspire area? Well, Thunderspire is west of Winterhaven, northwest.

Right. But the Minotaur thing, they've moved out of Thunderspire, right? Or they're abandoned? The large majority are still there. It's just a cramped living space. It was designed for humans. It was never designed for the Minotaur. It's just the first place that they could find that was abandoned and uninhabited, and they just kind of took it. Okay. And she would probably wait a few more minutes and then just let you guys talk it amongst yourselves. There is one more thing, but we have so little information on this that I'm afraid I can't give you too much to go on.

We've both received word from refugees and survivors of the incident that the city of Donhurst has pretty much been wiped off the map. Whoa. What? Huh? The city's still standing. There are no inhabitants. There was some incident that ended up killing thousands. What? Like, massacre or like, disease? Do we know any of that? From what we understand, it wasn't a massacre. It wasn't an invading force. We initially thought that the orcs had raided the city, but the gates were still standing when people left, and there were a lot of strange occurrences, and people started disappearing.

And the reports that we've been able to obtain... And she's going to look down and kind of, you know, look at these papers again and try to take a deep breath and pitch this to you. The things that were in the city were described as horrible monsters, walking nightmares, and we don't know a tremendous amount beyond that. This appeared to happen two, three weeks ago from the data we have. Now Maddie looks interested. Has Umin Yuro been contacted about this? We're not sure. And again, most of the surviving people from the city fled to Durnhollow and Aubrey.

We've gotten a small trickle of people here in Winterhaven, but there's a lot of people that are going to need food and shelter. We're taking care of that now, but as you can imagine, these people are traumatized. We've gotten all the information from them that we could, but it's spotty at best. Does that description of these things being like, what do you say, waking nightmares? She has a more detailed breakdown. And if you want to hear it, she will give it to you. But she's kind of handling this with kid gloves to see if you were interested first and then like, okay, if you are, you need to know some things.

Maddie, we'll ask about that then. What do you mean by waking nightmares? And again, this is... some of this is just hearsay. We don't know. These people were very scared and some of this could be exaggerated, but... There were various accounts of members of the city sewn or stitched together, shambling, walking out of the mine in Donhurst, and clawed, vicious monsters roaming the streets. So undead? These reports are to be believed. Yes. And some of the things that have been described even sound demonic in origin. Maddie's gonna clasp her holy symbol. I feel like Asher's probably gonna like mutter like a swear in Elvin.

Out of curiosity, what is the contract state that we would be doing? Because that seems you would need a large force to wipe out an undead mass of over thousands of people. What would be the mission? Recon? Here's the thing. And she's going to... she's going to kind of perk up a bit. Okay, that's the good news. From our understanding, the most recent reports say that it's just corpses. And then once she kind of realized, okay, I just posed that as good news. It's just bodies as far as the eye can see. I'm sorry, that came out wrong. But the presence of monstrous activity seems to have died out.

We're just dealing with an abandoned city now and no one can really put their finger on why this happened. So like a bunch of monsters and they just popped up and killed an entire city and then just all died? What? And she's almost like, right? Like you can see why we're all concerned. I feel we may have to discuss all these jobs. Are there any more options? I'd like to make sure we have all of them. We know what we've got to play with. And then it'd also be good if we figured out what we got from the show last night so we know what we can and cannot prepare for.

And she's going to, I am so sorry. That should have been my first priority. I was just very excited to talk to you. And she is going to hand you a payment of 600 gold. That's a hundo each, right? Yep. Nice. And she is again going to congratulate you all on the play. You've done an amazing job. Take all the time you need. I'll be here with whatever you decide and we could get started. Evan takes the papers, I would assume they'll drop requests. And like, okay guys, we can either go to a bar and chat or we can go shopping, but I think we should figure out what we want to do and then try to plan for that.

Talk first, shop second. Nice. Maybe we should go like talk in your apartment. I don't know how much of this stuff is like secret. It's kinda cramped in there. As I'm looking at Ubo. How about the temple? Yeah, I just feel like somewhere less public might be better. We're always welcome at the temple. And I'm sure we could get a room or something to talk in. Yeah, that wouldn't be a problem at all. So these papers that she gave you, she basically gave you the elevator pitch. Like, okay, here's the quick and dirty version of what you'd be doing. But of course, there'd be a bit more information about each one of these jobs.

So if you guys have questions, those papers will be able to answer most of them. Nice. So are we in that private temple area now? Yeah. Okay. Ubo will pipe up right away. I think we should go try to stop the undead. The races of Theria will fight no matter what. One day it is minotaur and dwarves, then orcs and elves. That will happen for all time. But something making the dead walk could be a threat to the wild itself. I mean, from what the lady said, it sounded like they're already dead. But I mean, to me, that sounds like some sort of bad mage business. I don't know if whatever brought them in or whoever decided to raise demons in the city is still around if we want to be going up against that.

But then Astor looks kind of a bit disturbed still at just the description of what happened. It's an unnatural occurrence that we need. Well, not that we need to, but I feel that we need to investigate. As we're sitting in a temple of a monitor where their one mission is get rid of undead. Yeah, Astral Cawd like wink at Vani and is like, "Yeah, that's your specialty, right? What you guys do?" Yeah. Well, I don't disagree. And it is a research opportunity. Do you have to realize we have to go through to an abandoned city that could get attacked by orcs at the same time?

I believe that's in that direction. I think so. I mean, granted, I think everywhere we go is a chance for death. This is the area. But think about being holed up overnight in Dunhurst, an abandoned city where everyone died because of some attack from the orcs. Although we might also find that this might have spread. So I also don't want this to be something that starts taking over. Yeah, it doesn't really sound like a great time. Not gonna lie. But important. So, yeah. Get the upgraded bud roll. Donovan's just gonna exhale, just sigh. Look, I don't know about all this we-talk, alright?

I'm just a mailman. This seems a little crazy. And I don't normally work twice with the same groups because I tend to just keep moving after a job. But I like you guys. And if it was just about me, I'd go up north and go check out the minotaurs and the dwarves. Yeah, what was with your whole... Sorry, go ahead. Sorry, I feel like Aster would interject at that point. So what was with the whole thing about the minotaur anyway? He just kind of brought that up out of nowhere. Oh, I did. Masoka did. Last time. Was that the paper that he took from the office? Was that read out loud?

I don't think so. I just said put that back, I think, last time when you took the papers. We don't know, but you two know. Okay, you're right. Somehow I thought we all knew, but you're right. We didn't. Oh yeah, well, last time we visited they had a bunch of loose sheets everywhere with some notes and Masoka happened to tell me what he found on some. Regardless, I didn't know what the details were, but I don't think I can go there by myself. He looks at Masoka. What do you want to do, Masoka? So Masoka's probably been sort of walking around this temple, sort of like taking it in, looking at things, just because where he grew up in a monitor's light is very different to what he's seeing here.

He'll look over and he'll be like, "I think it's very important to go find things in an abandoned city." I thought I was going to chuckle. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to mess with minotaurs, I'll be honest. Those things are fucking huge. Alright, well, I'll go where you go, man, and I'll stick with you guys. But hear me out. We check it out. Here we have an empty city. Here we have a bunch of people, a bunch of minotaurs looking for a place to live. If, I don't know, if the real estate is there and there's no one to claim it, putting one and one together, I don't know.

Maybe we got an inn. Maybe we can keep an eye open for the new vault as well. And he looks at Ubo. Ubo nods at that. And Maddie will look at Donovan and Durn Hollows along the way. I hear they have a rousing scene there. I don't know what you mean. I think we're going to go the opposite way. Durn Hollows, oh, you're talking about the empty city. Yeah. So, let's put out definitely our no's. Brightport? No. No. Dicia? Hell no. Yeah. Is there anything more that's drawing you to the minotaur? I don't want to discount because you're a member of the group and just say, you know, my way or the highway.

But is there something more that you're feeling? Why we want to go there? You know me, man. I just want to meet new people. I just want to see what they're all about. I want to see the dwarves too. That's why I'm here in the West. Why don't we go check out... Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, but I see your point. And I mean, if it's about something greater, it could be nice for once to be part of something like that. And you know, if this is so bad that it wipes out Dunhurst and it somehow wiped out Stone's Unders Mountains because they're relatively closer by, maybe the minotaurs do have a place and yet two for one.

Well, sure. I laugh. But no, seriously, I think better not spread. That's my concern, especially if Dunhurst being, you know, pretty much like the halfway mark and the point between Uminero and this side. So I want to make sure that we still have safe passage back to Uminero. All right, fair enough. Well, I'll go where Masoka goes and I get the feeling that Masoka is going where a monitor goes. So you have my shield and host badge. Mattie's gonna look down. Donnie, I owe you one. We'll do what you want next time. I promise. Cheers. So, Dunhurst then? I think so.

Not gonna lie, it sounds a bit exciting in a few ways. Hopefully the stories are right and the bad mojo is all cleared out by now. Also, there's no way we're going to be the first ones to show up hearing about an empty city to loot or whatever. So I guess we got to get ready to defend ourselves from bandits and of course, orc territory and all that fun stuff. Sounds like a good time. Hey, Jason. Yeah? I was gonna ask Donovan, but I wondered if... would I know how to get a message to Uminero through other means than just force? Am I aware of any other way or through if there was like birds or other travel for messaging?

I'm sorry, to message Uminero? Yeah. Well, here's the thing. Birds are usually used for fairly short ranges, like city to city type stuff. Sometimes they're used for longer range stuff. But honestly, the quickest means of getting word to somebody is usually through the post. And you're traveling with one of the guys that could be doing that. I'll give you a good price. Yeah, but we basically be there before. Just wanted to notify them somehow. We really should, you know, improve ways to communicate. If only there was an instantaneous travel system that would make that work.

I know. Alrighty. Sorry. Go ahead. Ubo pipes up one more time. It is good that we are going to look into this city with the problem of the dead walking. But we will not be doing this right. And he looks around the room at each and every one of them and says, unless we promise now, if any one of us rises like that, we will cut one another down. We will not let our hearts. We will not let our feelings about who that thing was get in the way of stopping what that thing is. Promise you will kill me if I become one. I will promise you the same. Maddie's gonna put a hand over her holy symbol of a monitor and like, which is on her chest.

It's kind of like a pendant holding her tunic up. And it's like a shell nod, like a nod and be like, of course, it's my duty as a cleric of a monitor. And I expect everyone else to do the same for me. So we'll just look at everyone in the room, stopping a couple seconds more on Maddie and Donovan and just be like, yeah, I think I can do that. Yeah, Astrill kind of shrugged. Didn't even think of that as a question. Yeah, I agree. Although I'm sure I'll be an easy prey. I don't know if undead can cast magic. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Agreed. Just don't go for the face.

I know to some, it seems easy to say right now. So when the time comes, think back to this moment. If you feel less sure that you can do it, we can all say what we want in this room. When the moment comes, deliver. And I'll say that when we get there, but we should be careful what we do there. If it was something someone brought into the city or an object. So be careful what you pick up or find. Yeah, Ubo nods. Alrighty. I think we have our answer for Simone. And we should prepare with unholy or, you know, holy protection against the undead. I could bless us some water.

Yes, there is there in theory, is there known tangible benefit to throwing holy water and undead? Mostly vampires. There are some undead though that it does affect them. Yes. Okay. Fire though. Yeah, fireworks wonders. Get some little oil pots or something maybe. This is the Ark, Anvin learns necromancy. So we don't need all mages on the show going super evil. Matty would have to kill you. You're going back to Simone now to let her know? Yeah, and then we'll go to shopping to prepare for it. Alright. So obviously getting word back, I would imagine this probably took a couple of hours to sort out, but getting word back so soon, she would be thrilled.

That's fantastic. Because obviously this is something that could, if a larger city like Donhurst could fall seemingly overnight, it probably took longer than that, but that is calls for alarm. So yeah, she would be all for it. And she would obviously want you to be as safe as possible and get word back as soon as you can. Then the matter of payment is going to come up. Well, can I ask a question of your group first? Yeah, all of us, I think are able to answer. Would you perhaps be interested in setting up shop in Winterhaven? Being on retainer to deal with problems like this and perhaps even having an establishment to call your own, an office?

Matty's going to look at Ubo. I think we all look at Ubo. Yeah, Ubo shakes his head and says, I am with all of you. I have your back. But Winterhaven is not my home. Yeah, I'm sure I'm gonna have to ditto the big guy. I've got, I think we all have a lot of business, a lot of other places right now. And I mean, I just can't say yes at the moment. No offense. It's completely understandable. It is something that the council wanted me to offer you, though. We would be happy to to offer gold as compensation if that's all right. My heart is with Winterhaven. I would do it the office or to keep my own place or for the gold.

Knowing that Varia is safe is one of my best rewards. But gold and other supplies and preparation to make sure we can continue to save and help is always appreciated. Whether it's a discount or gold. Excuse me. Do you think you could get Amve in a bigger house? He's living in a closet right now, and it's just he deserves better. She is going to be a little taken aback. Well, I'm not I'm not really in charge of housing, but I can I can put in a request if that's OK. Take my share of the gold. That's fine. I mean, I I got plenty right now. Just see what you can do.

All she's like flustered. Obviously, all this would depend on what you find out and how you can help out in some way. But I can I can try to prepare something for when you return. Yeah, for sure. We got this. Just just just do it because we'll be back. I'll put in the request. I'll take care of everything. Thank you all so much. Emon is flabbergasted. I think everyone else's laughs were in character. Absolutely. So go look at Amve and just give him a big wink. Long as there's a guest bedroom for any of you guys to crash in. You're welcome anytime. So I guess shopping now, huh?

Yeah. Before like like I was really leaving and stuff like before we go out and stop anything, I was going to want to talk to Maddie. That's OK. Like might like pull her aside. Yeah. Like they just kind of like sort of like bump shoulders with her a little bit. Just like how how are you doing with the whole. I know you were really shaken up back there. Like, well, way back with the whole captive incident and stuff and just want to see how you're hanging on after that. I'm I'm trying to come with peace of a part of myself I didn't know existed. I'm just adjusting.

Really. She'll look down at her hands as she says that. I. I have a sister and she dedicated her whole life to. She wants to track down all the new vol and kill them. And I I thought I was above that. I guess I guess we're more like that. I thought. I mean, coming from where I grew up and as far as I'm concerned, the fact that you care about your. About that is that's not something you really see a lot and the fact that it bothers you at all that you want to hunt down or kill people. And honestly, rightly so like that. I think that puts you apart. It's just a monitor, a monitor is about hope and forgiveness and spreading light.

I always knew that there was also a visual side of a monitor tracking down on dead and vanquishing them. But I guess I have that part in me, too. It's just another side of this that I wasn't expecting, but I have to come to terms with. Yeah. Religion is hefty stuff, huh? Yeah. There's some pretty cool stuff with it, though. Yeah. If we meet some on dead boy, howdy. I got some spells up my sleeves. I'll be looking forward to seeing that. Well, I mean, not the running into the undead part, but like you putting the Lamby on them. Well, I'm ready. All right. So that is going to wrap us up shopping wise now.

I got to ask the party. Are you taking a day to get your stuff together? Get your fares in order. I imagine the shopping excursion we've just been on probably took hours, right? It's like it's a go to the mall. So you guys have been out. You're prepping. You understand this mission is probably there's an element of danger and the unknown. So you're trying to grab things that you think are going to aid you on your journey. Are you taking some time before you head out or is it just like the next day you're going? Yeah, I feel like the next day. Break of Dawn kind of thing.

Break of Dawn? Yeah. I think I'd stop by Malchus and let him know something that I was leaving and what I'm doing. He probably already knows from Simone, but mainly just saying goodbye. Anyone else that was in town, I think Jadzia was still there and a lot of people came in saying goodbye to everybody and then we go. All right. So let's fast forward to the sixth of Ferriyur and we're going to get ready and wrap stuff up. But before we do, I would like Ubo do me a favor and roll a flat D20 to see how your trek is going to begin. OK, I'm getting it here. Sorry.

Donovan was talking about getting a whole bunch of weapons and then I googled a video on nunchucks. Sure. As you do. As you do. OK, flat D20. Flat D20. Boom. That's a four. That's a four right there. That's a four. You're already the undead zombie you are looking for. Well, we'll see how that brings us next time. Yeah, we're going to I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop for the evening, but that four is going to be interesting. We're going to have to fight. Might. Don't know. I got all the arrows now, though, so I'm good to go. Damn it, we needed a portable RAM.

We're going to regret not getting that, I guarantee you. Jason's specifically going to set up an encounter where we need one. Yep. You're going to fight a bunch of locked doors. Noooooo. You probably need to go back and update that library some more. The spell library? Yeah. Dude, we got to get on that. That's our fault. It's been busy. I understand. I mean, I go in and if I updated, I could then run that script tool to export the new version. But we need to add the duration to it. And I know a lot of spells don't have the duration. It can be confusing to people.

And it's one of those things where, just like the items and stuff like that, there's all kinds of little details that can derail a session if you don't have every single thing lined up. Like, it did this one, basically. What happens if... and I'm like, shit, I don't know. I'm so sorry. No, no, no, no. Those are questions that need to be answered, because I guarantee you are not the only people thinking of it. There are two other groups and there's a Patreon group and there's all kinds of stuff. So yeah, that's got to know. I feel like you're coming out of session with a list of things to research.

And that happens sometimes. That's going to be a thing sometimes. You know, we could add your little roll thing. Remember those custom tables you can make? Oh yeah. You can make custom rolls for your pricing of your... I like that. I feel like that's not as elegant as I want it to be. I might come up with a new system for that, but it's... yeah. I don't know what I'd want it to be yet. But I know I'm not happy with that and I don't know why. Thank you guys so much for sitting down to do this. I'm sorry we didn't get too far removed from Winterhaven and stuff, but at least you guys know what you're going to be doing now.

Yeah. That's cool. You excited to get to Downhurst? Yeah. So is... I'm blanking out on the name. Is the place where Maddie's from on the way to Downhurst? I know that's kind of like... Aubrey? Aubrey, yeah. That's like that direction-ish. That's our first stop. So maybe we'll get to stop there maybe. I haven't been there in a long time. Eight years, right? Yeah. That could be fun. Yeah, that's where his mom is, I think. More family interactions. Hopefully less awkward. Yay. Any package of delivery to Aubrey? Can I earn two extra gold by delivering some letters to Aubrey?

Sure! Yay! I don't see why not. Oh man, I'm going to get ready and let you guys go try and get some rest. I know it's 1230 basically on the East Coast. I nabbed today. Oh man, I'll see you guys next time. Thank you again. Thank you. Bye guys. See you next time. Bye. On the 5th of Ferriore, in the city of Winterhaven, the day after the play had been put on, the mayor of Esterholt, Jadzia Grimnus-Grace, and her husband, Valus Grimnus, returned to their accommodations provided by the city and discussed the day's events. So after getting back from their night out, Jadzia is going to be changing into her nightgown, taking a bath, doing everything that she needs to do before bed, and just before she actually climbs into bed for the night, she's sort of pacing the room back and forth.

It's become almost a habit now to just go through the day at the end of the day. It's just something she does before bed, so she'll be kind of counting on her fingers. They said they were going to be able to take in 15 children total, 5 for blacksmithing and then 10 for general tradesmanship. I'll write to the teacher tomorrow to let them know, and... Valus, what was it that the woman said? When did they say that they were going to be able to come? Mmm... I'm sorry, I... I wasn't listening. Jadzia's pacing is going to slow and then stop, and she's going to move back over the bed.

Sweetheart, are you alright? I'm fine. Just... a bit distracted. Sorry again, I didn't mean to zone out. Jadzia will smile and just shake her head. It's fine. We don't get a chance to get away from home very often, but it's been nice, hasn't it? And she'll kind of get down to look into his eyes to check, kind of studying his face. Yes, it's been nice. We're probably going to get back and Serip have taught the kids to throw knives. Jadzia's going to chuckle a little bit, and then I think she's going to sit right in his lap. Well, what's wrong then? Was it your brother?

Did he do something during dinner? No, no, no. He was... he was fine. Really enamored with that play, but fine. So was it the play itself? Did that bother you? The play was fine. The seating was... nice. I think I've seen enough hero worship of Malkus to last a lifetime. But... that's not fair. It's not his fault. Jadzia's going to wrap her arms around Valk's neck and kiss his cheek and go, "But it was the play that bothered you?" *sigh* Well... was it the... the actor? With the... with the red makeup? Actually, that was pretty tastefully done, considering. I've seen far worse.

If the play were about me, though, I doubt a human would have been the actor. Jadzia's going to nod and ask, "You think they would have made you more frightening looking, right?" And I almost feel like as she's doing this, her hands are going to come up to brush his hair back a little bit, and they're going to graze the horns to kind of get her point across. Malkus has always been able to... blend in. I've just... never been able to do that. Even out of everyone in my family, I... I stand out. It must have been really lonely. There was no one in Brightport to help?

No one like you? There were other tieflings, but... they were usually involved in some sort of crime. It didn't exactly help public perception. Also, I was usually larger than them. Jadzia's going to have kind of a somber look on her face, and then she'll nod again, but then kiss him on his forehead. Well, I like how big you are. And then she'll smile at him. I've just been thinking... if the play were about me... what would it be about? Would it be about any of the things we've done in the last three years? Or would it be about my time in Brightport? You can't stay chained up in the past like that, sweetheart.

You could ask the same thing about me. Would a play about my life be about now, or Overwatch? You have a town that respects you. You have children that love you. You're doing good things, and the past doesn't matter anymore. I love you. All of you. Valus is going to be staring off into the melt distance while Jadzia's saying all this, and toward the end of it, he's going to meet Jadzia's eyes, and this little half-smile is going to curl up around his lips. Have I told you today how absolutely lucky I am to have met you? And I imagine he would pick her up, probably with ease, I don't imagine it would take all that much, and kind of toss her back onto the bed.

As soon as she's picked up, Jadzia's going to start giggling a little bit, and then as she's thrown onto the bed, she does that little half-squeal. Very playful. I would imagine the last thing Valus does before he climbs into bed with Jadzia is blow out the candle that's next to their nightstand. Goodness gracious, everybody, I really hope you enjoyed today's episode. Stay tuned right now because I have a wealth of information to tell you guys. Obviously, off the bat, it's extremely important that if you haven't checked it out by now, go to patreon.com/dandr.

It's how we pay bills, it's how we keep the lights on, and it's how we do things like create new artwork and plan things for DragonCon and such. Speaking of DragonCon, if you are on our Patreon and you haven't checked out our Discord yet, holy crap, is that a truly cool place. If you go to patreon.com/dandr and you're in the $5 tier, there's a Discord completely set up with channels dedicated to things like Living in Theria, which is a show we do. We answer questions about the world, we usually do a person, place, or thing. This month on Patreon we're discussing godly weapons, and I'll probably be going into things like stats, and answering questions about how they came to be, where they got dumped off, how they got there, all that good stuff.

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