Catching Up

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We can't thank you guys enough for your support. And if you ever have suggestions for things that we could add to our Patreon, please hit us up at dandrpodcast@gmail.com. Previously for Group C. After a debate about what was to be done with Marek, the team finally decided to put him on the back of their wagon and continue traveling north to the city of Brightport. After a long journey, they finally made their destination and made themselves at home, thanks to a gentleman they saved named Sleazy Pete. Staying the night in his brothel, the team managed to recoup from some of their injuries and enjoy some food and drink.

That's where we're picking things up today. Let's do that thing! We'll be going around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Zach. What's up? My name is Zach, and I play Aveline Bates, the human fighter. And Jasper. Hello, this is Jasper. I play Marek Ethelred, human cleric. And Brie. Hi, I'm Brianna Marie. I'm bad at finding my mute button, and I play Clara, the half-drow fighter. And Jane. Hi, I'm Jane. I play Ephony, the gnome-bod. And Lisa, who's got her cat's feets. I do! I'm Lisa, and I play Elarath B.

Singer, the halfling barbarian. I can tell this is going to go well today. This is-- That's a great start. Welcome to Brightport! Guys, you have been on the road for quite a while. And what a better way-- what a better way-- that's not how that-- whatever. You spent your night at a brothel. Sleazy Pete, to be exact. You got some massages. One of you took advantage of some companionship for the evening. And I would love-- I don't appreciate the term "take advantage." It's not take-- look, OK, if it's offered-- I exchanged goods for services. I gave her back her boss.

Yes, the goods. Sleazy Pete would love to be referred to as the goods, by the way. Sleazy the goods Pete. Everyone's like, your mom actually named you Sleazy? Yeah. It's Brightport, yeah. Of course. She knew what was up. It's very, very common. Very common to me. She was my first whore. I come from a long-- whoa, what? Not safe. Not that I skipped, but that I sold. No. Does that make it better? You decide. Well, that's our show, everyone. I'm not going to decide. I'm not biting. I'm not getting into that. Let's pick things up on the 25th of Faerie. It has been a lovely evening.

There would have been free drinks on tap for as long as you guys would have wanted them. There would be rooms. It's a pretty quiet night there. So there might have been one or two customers who'd come in and be weird at you. And let me see. OK, this is going to-- people of a certain age. Have you guys ever walked into a shop that sells dirty magazines, something like that? Have I? OK, thank you. So you know that feeling of there's another customer there? You both know why you're there. You kind of don't make eye contact. You just try to ignore the fact that there's another person there.

You just pretend they don't exist. Exactly. So that's kind of-- let these people are walking. They walk in. It's like, oh, there's a crowd here. And they just kind of, you know, I'd like to see peaches. And then, you know, they-- Peaches. Besides Clara, would anybody else-- basically, what was everyone else doing throughout the evening? I think Elrath would probably take advantage of some of those free drinks. But like not enough to get, I don't know, wasted or anything. Just enough to relax because she was very uncomfortable when they first got there. So I think she'll have probably two or three drinks just to kind of relax and just be like, OK, this is where we're staying.

It's not weird that I can hear them in the next room. You know what? Oh, this is a perfect thing. Hold on a second. I'm going to roll for soundproofing. 20. Oh, these rooms. Oh, no, that's good. That's good, right? Yes, that's amazing. You can't hear a thing. You could murder someone in one of these rooms, and no one would know. Oh, OK, cool. What are you saying? What are you saying? I'm not saying anything. This came hot off the heels of the cold hooker that I went to go hang out with. Yeah. That's a terrible name for a problem. The cold hooker did a good job with it.

The cold hooker didn't take off the brake lever. Yeah. It's refreshing for your bits. Spleasy Pete did a good job, though. I can see where he put his money was like, I'm going to soundproof this puppy. You know, like-- Give everybody some privacy. I like it. Right. Each one of these could be in the recording studio. It's very nice. Something to note. Clara has not emerged from this room all evening. Now, that is not standard brothel behavior. Usually these rooms are rented either by the hour or for the evening, but usually the evening price is at a premium. But of course, all these services are pretty much free for you guys, at least today.

So shall we have the group meet up the next morning during continental breakfast? Yes, please. Let's roll for something here. Hold up. 11. So the breakfast spread at Sleezy Pete's is adequate, let's say. There's some muffins and some bread loaves, things like that. There's freshly churned butter, but nothing hot. They're not cooking up bacon and eggs and that type of thing, but it is a nice little spread to kind of start your day. Maybe some fruit. Yeah, but it's like cantaloupe and honeydew melon, right? So it's like, ugh. It's like, it's-- Mm-mm. Yeah. Yeah.

No, that's the packing peanuts of the fruit world. It's like, when you get a fruit cup and there's honeydew, melon, and cantaloupe, it's like, ugh. Give me the grapes and strawberries. Let's do this. OK. Strong feelings. You want to fight? It's like 95% honeydew. Yeah. It's like 95% honeydew. I'm in the minority here, I think, because I'm like, I love it. I will eat the-- I will take all of these fruit cups. Thank you. Honeydew is the worst melon. My dad would agree with you. A bowl of melons. I don't even like melons, but honeydew is the worst one. Anyway. Well, if you don't like melons, you don't belong at Sleazy Pete's. [LAUGHTER] OK, and we're back.

Whoa. It's my job to tie it back in. It is. [LAUGHTER] How would the group be feeling? Getting off the road, I would imagine you cleaned up at some point. There's-- Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's some bathing services offered. You could either bathe alone or with a friend. So you're cleaned up, you're off the road, your gear's probably been cleaned. Because Sleazy Pete is very, very thankful for what you did. He was a goner. Yeah. Now, this is, I would say, on your first day here. And Sleazy Pete's thankfulness has its limits, because you know, you've got to run a business.

But right now, you've probably used up, I mean, somewhere in the area of 75 to 100 gold worth of services. Whoa. Whoa. So this is all on the house. This is between drinks and companionship and bathing and cleaning and all that stuff. They gave you the works. But yeah. Abilene would definitely be appreciative of armor cleaning, because that just seems really, really nice. How sweaty it gets and whatnot. Mm-hmm. Good point. I think Elareth would have been thankful for the bath and stuff solo. And the bed to sleep in solo. Noted. I think Clara's just grateful in general.

Nice. Serene. Clara. Yes. Hold on a second. Keep going. What? Everyone keep talking. I want to do something. Oh, no. Oh, no. Just for story purposes, Merrick probably stayed up pretty late and just drinking. Not by himself in the back corner, but just whatever little bar they have. Just having a relaxed time. It's been a long time on the road. He hasn't been on the road for a long time. And then all of a sudden, he's been on adventures. So he's just like, man, what a-- Kaluna. And then Kaluna's gone. And then Brightport. And I don't know what the fuck. So it's just trying to get out of his head a little bit.

But not depressed, but just like, fuck it. I'm going to drink. So he might be a little bit like, too loud this morning. I would say, Clara, about this time in the morning, let's say it's like, I don't know, 9 AM, somewhere in there. So it's fairly early, but not too early. You guys slept in a little bit for adventures. Clara, could you do me a favor? We have a tradition on the show. Could you roll a constitution check for me? I don't know. I sure can. Here we go. Wow. A 19. I would say it's a good thing these rooms are soundproof. Oh my god. Because probably well into the night-- I was up late, too, Jasper.

Nice. [LAUGHTER] I just imagine the way that the rooms are soundproofed is that they have just mattresses lining the walls. And these two women took that as a challenge. Let's see what we can do here. Oh boy. So the group is back together. You're in the city. You've had some time to rest and relax. What's the plan? I think as Clara comes out to eat breakfast and stuff, she's noticeably more chill than she has been since you've probably met her, at least since Jasp-- since Merrick's met her. But if the subject came up of, what do we do now, she'd obviously mentioned the messages that we're supposed to deliver.

Yeah. So I remember, if I remember correctly, remind me, back in the day whenever we talked to Vaynor? Vaynor? Was that his name? The Onacal-- no, Jorvan. I think Vaynor is the car in Cars that's like the redneck truck. [LAUGHTER] Yeah. Jorvan Zareth, he was the council member who was an arrogant jerk, but was the one who wanted us to send the message. Is that right? According to my notes. He gave us money. Exactly. But it was fun to fuck with him. But we have several copies of that to make sure, in case we wanted to go to all the different houses and give those-- we've basically got a stack of letters.

And I feel like Merrick probably would have had that in his pack or something like that. So at any mention of this whole thing that we need to talk to the houses, Merrick's going to plop that stack of scrolls or letters or however it was put right there on the table and just point like, yep, that's our mission, right? I know we had also talked about meeting back up with those two gnome ladies with Biggin. Oh, yeah. Yep. So that's something we could look into maybe after-- They're going to try to contact us by going to House Dragonkeep. Oh. That is interesting.

There are three main houses, Dragonkeep, Axeman, and Sneaky. Wow. You work on the show. Sneaky bitches. No, I think Sleazy Pete's is one of the houses now. It's been a while. Wait, I got this. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Wait, I got this. Iron hammer. Nope. Stone hammer. Nope. Hammer hand. Thank you. Hammer was in it. Silver cloth. There we go. I totally had it. I just-- House sneaky britches. Sneaky britches. I think mine were better. Anyway. And there are six of us. So two of us could go to each house and drop these off and then meet you at Dragonkeep. If we wanted to expedite this instead of all six of us going to each house.

No, that's a good idea. I mean, it's just a delivery. It's not like we're having a big-- Yeah, we're just hanging out of town. Plus, they're all in different directions. And that'll mean like, you know what, let's just fucking relax. We've been through a desert. We've been through this crazy new Las Vegas-y town. We've been through all sorts of-- you know what? We just deserve to just enjoy Bright Park, which is not-- enjoy filth and disgust. Anyway. There are five of us. Yep. I counted the number of portraits. One of you isn't here. But still, my point. Point being?

Merrick hasn't really insinuated much about Dragonkeep. But there's kind of like a vibe around that, especially when you told them that's where you would meet them. Yes. That there's kind of an insinuation that you might have a relationship or something. Yeah, if nothing else, it's just like I have an interest in it somehow. But no, he hasn't mentioned any reason that he might want to go there other than, yeah, he's got some friends and maybe there's something that you could insinuate like that. Maybe like, oh, I know somebody. So Merrick's going to say, I think we easily could split up.

Or even we can all go together. But let's just relax a little bit and go through the town. Honestly, I wouldn't mind going off-- I could even go by myself, since we only have an odd number of people. Five. [LAUGHTER] He's just like, wow, Clara, she really fucked your brains out. There are five of us here. Couple of you could go to Hammerhand, couple to Silverclaw. And I'm happy just to go to Dragon Key, because I know a couple of people around in that area. Anyway, I'm happy to go do that. I mean, I don't have to go alone, but it might not be the worst thing to have a friend.

He's going to look wistfully out the window. [LAUGHTER] Well, as much as it pains me to give into stereotypes, I could go to Silverclaw. It honestly might be helpful. [LAUGHTER] Elarath, you want to come with me? And then, Avalon and Ephony, you two can go to Hammerhand. Sounds good to me. Avalon nods. Sure. I know Brightport pretty well, so I don't really mind being alone, especially in the light of day. So yeah. Throughout this breakfast, by the way, Clara's just slamming back orange juice. She needs her energy. [LAUGHTER] Like, if there were a Gatorade in Tharia, she'd need it for the electrolytes.

It's got what plants crave. [LAUGHTER] Ephony will keep glancing at Clara, like, raising an eyebrow with the nudge, nudge, wink, wink kind of face on her. [LAUGHTER] Well, Brightport is essentially divided into four sections. It's not really labeled. It's more unspoken. There's obviously the docks of Brightport, which is a major section of the town. It's also Brightport's roughest section. And unless you have business there, most people-- outsiders-- don't go there. Notable things in the docks are obviously tons and tons of ships, lots of trade going on, lots of seedy bars, that type of thing.

The Black Hands compound is now famously in that section of the city. And there's lots of underhanded things and deeds going on in that section. The Marketplace is where you'll find House Silverclaw and shit tons of vendors and merchants. Lots of hustle and bustle going on in the Marketplace section. The Grey Quarter is where you'll find a lot of churches. You'll find tons of guard, actually, in the Grey Quarter. That's also where you'll find House Hammerhand and a bunch of other stuff. And then, of course, the Upper Crust is the more wealthy section of the city.

House Dragonkeep is right on the edge of that, but still falls within that sector. And then lots of nobility and Upper Crust buildings, bars, brothels, that type of thing. So we're splitting the party, correct? Yeah, well, what could go wrong? Looks that way. All right. So let's start. So, okay. Clara and Eloraf are one little team here. Yay. Yes. Writing everything down. Just making sure. Okay. I thought you were waiting here for me, and I was like... No. Yes. No, no, no, no. Elwin and Efini are in one... Oh, this is gonna be fun. Why is that noise? No reason. It's gonna be fun.

It's fun for you. It's fun for some... It's gonna be fun for everyone. Fun for you is mostly fun for you. Such a bell end. That means the end of a penis. Like the head. We had lessons earlier. For someone who cusses a lot, I'm pretty bad at it. Jane, what does this curse word mean? Uh... Really? Your parents should have had the talk. You don't ask me to give you the talk. Oh boy. How's about we start off with Clara and Eloraf? High five. Hell yeah. That was me high-fiving my mic. I held my hand up to the screen. I missed. I missed a virtual high-five. We went two totally different directions.

We did. It's gonna be good. So we are heading toward House Silverclaw, correct? Yes. Alright. Could you do me a favor? Give me a flat d20. Eloraf, you wanna do it? Sure. Pew! Hey, it's better than I rolled both times earlier, so I'll take it. Fair enough. So that's a seven. Essentially, I just kinda wanted to gauge what your experience would be like walking through the city. So, there's a lot of sights, sounds, smells that accompany big city living. You're gonna smell tons of great food. Anybody's ever been to a big city, you can't walk a block without walking past a restaurant or something like that.

It's like, "Wow, that smells good." That type of thing. Some of it might be food that you might not be into, or you find out, "Oh, that's what that is? Oh, okay, that's fine." But lots of roast boar and fresh-baked breads, that type of thing. It's kind of a treat for the senses. You're also gonna see tons of people out and about selling shit. There's gonna be a section of the city where you get there and it's like, "Oh, oh, oh, do you wanna buy this? Do you wanna buy that? I have these woven blankets, you're gonna want 'em!" That type of thing. "It gets cold at night!" That type of thing.

People constantly trying to stop you. Would that be anything you guys would engage in, or is it more like, "Ah, we got a mission." I think maybe the first few times we passed one, Ella Routh would want to stop and look, but then if it becomes a thing, I feel like she'd just be like, "No, God, no." It's definitely a thing where you... If a merchant sees you stop for one merchant, they all expect you to stop. It's like at the mall. Yeah. If you are trying to be polite and go to take one of their samples because you feel bad about all the people passing them, you'll learn why all those people pass them.

Yeah, a little bit. Because then they grab you with their claws and pull you in and start washing your hands for you, and you're like, "What the fuck is happening?" Not that I have any first-hand experience in any of that. That sounds about right. Eventually, I'd say within about 45 minutes or so, you are going to reach House Silverclaw. Whether you had to stop for directions or something like that, people will point you in the direction of one of the houses. It's pretty... It's pretty... It's not exactly hiding. How would you like to approach this situation?

Elorath would probably defer to Clara because she knows she's not the greatest at putting words together. She'd be like, "Okay." Before we go in, it was Yorick, right? Yorick is the name of the guy who sent us? Yorvin. Yorvin Zareth. Yorvin Zareth. I should start writing shit down like you guys do. I wrote, "He gave us 100 gold pieces. Looking for a message to Brightport." Oh, it's scrolls, not letters. Basically, the message is, "No more ties with houses of Brightport. Declaration of Independence." Perfect. Alright. I guess Clara would just knock on the door?

So there are these large double doors. So one of them, after a moment, there'd be this little sliding panel that opens, and you're going to see a pair of eyes peer out at you. Can I help you? Yes. Hello. My name's Clara. This is Elorath. We have a message for the head of your house from one Yorvin Zareth of the Aladrin. And she's trying to sound official, but she's just kind of weird and awkward. Do me a favor, roll a persuasion check. Let's see how this comes off. Persuasion. Ooh, flatty. 20? 16. 16. She's doing her best. Like, you know that scene in Mulan, like the first time Mulan has to pretend to be a dude?

That's at least how Clara feels. Or like the first time you had to go to like a real job where you had to wear like a blazer. And a button up shirt. I've never had to wear a blazer. Not just like the shirt they gave you with the ice cream cone on it. Is that Universal For All jobs? Because I never got one. You didn't get an ice cream shirt? Well, you didn't really get a job then. Oh no. I just tell you. It's just like now. Ooh, it's not a real job. Not a real job. So this individual is going to say, "One moment, please." And then that little, it's going to slowly slide shut like his eyes are going to disappear.

Wait, do his eyes stay in the little slit and just like it slowly shuts while his eyes just creepily- Yes. Absolutely, yes. Like he does not move until it's fully shut. Exactly. So about two minutes are going to pass and then that you're going to hear the little door slide open again. I'm afraid she's busy right now, but you can come in and deliver a message. I'm more than willing to hear you out. All right. She's going to kind of look to Elarath and be like, "That's good, right?" Elarath will just shrug like, "Ah." And again, that little door is going to slide shut and the door is going to open and there is going to be a drow man standing in front of you.

Kind of very much covered up in some robes and stuff like that, wearing a lot of layers. And he's going to hold out his arm kind of like, "You'll enter!" That type of thing. Kind of a grand gesture. Clara is going to give him the secret drow-bro nod of layers. Racist. Look, I'm a white person. We don't do that, but I have had colored hair my entire life and people with weird colored hair definitely do that to each other. Which is the same as race, right? I understand racism. Send your emails to dandielarpodcast@gmail.com. Look, lots of layers, right, bro?

Yeah. Sun sucks. So he's going to motion you in and then shut the door up as soon as you cross the threshold and lock. Oh, pleasant. Yay. We're not trapped here at all. If you'll follow me. And he is going to walk down this little corridor here and immediately to the right, he's going to open the door and motion for you both to enter. Clara will just follow behind and go where he leads us, kind of like looking around, curiously, but not with keen interest. Just like, "Hm, okay." You'll notice the entire house when you enter, a lot of it's very low lighting, a lot of muted colors, kind of darker.

And the area he's going to lead you is this little sitting room, kind of a den, kind of on the smaller side. And there's a fireplace in there. There's some leather high back chairs, very, very cozy. And if you both walk in again, he is going to shut the door and lock it. Why? With all the locking? Would your characters be noticeably upset about the locking of doors? I feel like each time Clara hears the click of a lock, she'll just kind of flinch a little bit, like, "Hm." But she wouldn't say anything about it. Yeah, that's probably how she would be too.

She'd just be like, "Hm, okay. Alright, this is happening." Just maybe a little bit on your guard, that type of thing. Ah, please have a seat. My name is Dalus, by the way. Hi. Clara will reach out her hand and she's obviously wearing the gloves. And maybe with her other hand, she goes to remove the veil that's around, like tuck it down. He's definitely going to be in layers. The hood's not up or anything like that. But if he were to, like, have to go outside and get the mail or something like that, there'd definitely be a hood there. And he would shake your hand back.

And he would look at Elrath. And you are? Elrath. Nice to meet you, too. And she'll, like, take her cue from Clara. Just like, "Okay, this is what people do. Alright." And he's got this big Cheshire Cat smile. Charmed, I'm sure. Please. What is it you'd like to speak about? Clara would take out the scroll from her pack. We only bring a message. We don't have any investment in what is being said. We only promise to deliver it. There's a thing that Drow people do. They have a lot of prolonged eye contact. It's kind of an authoritative move. It's very much to establish power in a conversation.

Gorillas do that. As do most pack animals. That's why you shouldn't get into staring contests with your cat. Because if you lose them, then your cat thinks that it's the alpha. Your cat thinks you're a bitch. So, Dalus is going to do that as well, very much, staring at you. I feel like that's one where Clara is used to it. So she's just going to hold the gaze. Not Cheshire Cat grin, but small smirk back. Like, "Yeah, I know this part." Maybe not even I know this part. Just like, "This is normal for me." How would Elrath react to that? She's probably just staring at them, staring at each other.

Just like, "What is happening right now?" She doesn't know. She probably figures it is. But I think she met, I think, Seraph back in the day. So he might have done it then as well. So she's probably just like, "Yeah, this is a normal drow thing. I'm just gonna not look." Makes me wildly uncomfortable. "I don't know how to respond to this." He's going to take, if you offer the scroll over to him. Mmm... I'm not sure she would, because she doesn't know how high up he is. Okay, would you- Like, she would take it out to show him, but she wouldn't take it out and gesture for him to have it.

It's nothing where she would be like, "Psych!" and pull it back. Just like, "I have this." "I assure you. I report directly to Ulanda. I would be more than happy to relay a message." I feel like maybe 15 or 20 seconds of uninterrupted eye contact is going to happen after that. Could Clara roll an insight check as that's happening? Yeah, sure can. I don't suspect anything. It's just Clara wants to be careful. 15. It doesn't sound like he's outright lying to you. Wow, that's a way to put things. Well, I mean, it's- there's always- Okay, this is going to sound racist.

There's a thing that Drow do where they phrase sentences that constantly make it sound like it was poured over by a lawyer. It's like, "Well, you know, there are loopholes." But it does not sound like he is outright- the basic statement doesn't sound like it's completely manufactured where it's like, "I don't even know an Ulanda." But the fact that there's so much security and he's in this house, that does kind of vouch for some of it. Alright, at that point, again, after like the 15 to 20 seconds of uncomfortable eye contact, she'll give like the smallest nod and hand it over to him.

Alright, then I leave this with you. He would crack this open immediately. Here's the- my other thought process is there's three of these letters going out. So like, who cares if it doesn't make it to Ulanda, she'll find out somehow. Right, yes. Yeah. And there's going to be a beat. Clara will glance down to Elarath because I don't think this has been discussed at all. Uh, yeah, she probably just like looked back at her. She's been like, "Um, maybe? I don't know." And then she'll- oh, go ahead. We just got here, so... Clara will kind of smile at that and then look back up to Daris.

We've had a long journey. It's likely we will be here for quite a bit. Again, just the messengers. Of course. I'll be speaking this over with Ulanda. They'll receive our answer very shortly. I'm sure they will. He's going to unlock the door and open it back up and step out into the hallway, just kind of assuming you're following. Mm-hmm. And she would, probably. Right. But there's no hesitation in unlocking the front door again. There's just no- I feel like 90% of being a drow is just knowing how to do the power play. A bit, yes. There's a certain way to speak, and it's that way for a lot of races.

There's a certain way to speak to people and to carry yourself. Right. But he would show you to the front entrance again, and thank you for your time. Clara would probably give a little bow. Elorath would probably try to imitate the bow because she thinks, "All right, this is what's normal." And he would give one back. How's about we catch up with Efini and Evelynn? Let's do it. Could you do me a favor? Give me a flat d20. Both of us, or? Just one of you. Do you want to go for it, Zach? I'll go for it. Why not? Another 11. Okay. All right, so... Oh, boy. Okay, so here's what- I don't like it when you say "Oh, boy." It's 'cause it's fun!

I don't think Jane likes it when you say most things. I know. Jane hates me. It's fine. She just wishes he would shut the fuck up. Yeah, just... You bellend. Kindly, though. Kindly shut the fuck up. Kindly shut up. So you are going to be trekking through Brightport here, and there's a point where you're going to see a lot more city guard. It's so omnipresent in this particular section that you're going to notice that you probably didn't really see any city guard in the area that you were in previously when you woke up this morning. Is there a reaction to that?

Not necessarily from Avalon. He hasn't clicked yet. That's something to notice. So he's just trekking through. There would be... In between the clusters of guards, there are going to be street parkers and that type of thing. There's also going to be people doing the three-card Monte type of thing on the street. It's like, "Oh, find the Red Queen!" Lots of little games of chance like that. There's also people trying to call you into bars and the like. Just all kinds of people trying to get you to enter their establishment and spend money. But eventually, you're going to reach House Hammerhand.

This is a pretty... It stands out from the other establishments near it. Kind of rustic looking. Lots of wood. Lots of people outside with wagons. That type of thing. People will stop here to try and secure protection. If they're traveling through the Divide or something like that. Any place where they think they might be ambushed, they'll usually come to a place like Hammerhand and try to secure shield hands. Someone who will protect their cargo and make sure they get where they're going in one piece. That's the aim, anyway. How would you guys like to approach this situation?

Is there anybody stood outside of the building itself or can we just approach and knock on the door? There is... There's a dwarf standing outside. His armor is very much worn. You can see that he's probably seen lots of battle. He's been talking off and on to different people, pointing them in the direction to go. He's like, "Oh, you're gonna want to talk to blah blah." Almost like an office manager. That type of thing. Directing people like he's on the front steps. Okay. Efni will approach him then and say, "Good morning, sir. We have a message for the head of your house.

May we gain entry, please?" He is immediately going to look up, assuming for some reason that the voice is coming from someone taller. And then he's going to look down. "Ah, sorry about that, little lady." Yeah, it's... He's trying to be kind, if it makes you feel any better. I know. (Laughter) And he's going to hold out a hand. "Dolbrick!" Efni will take his hand and shake it and say, "Efni, this here is Avalon." And he would shake Avalon's hand. Avalon would shake back and do the double handshake. Oh, the double... The... The... The... The... The... The... Double grip, yeah.

"You have very smooth palms. Has anyone ever told you that?" "No, they haven't. Thank you." And there's almost a look on his face like, "I don't know if I was phrasing that in the form of a compliment, but okay, that's fine." "I'm... I'm very sorry. What is it that you said you wanted?" "We have a message to give to the head of the house here, if we may speak with them." "Oh! Oh! Uh, yes! Follow me! Follow me!" "Thank you." And he's going to take you into this house, and there are trophies everywhere. There's... You can see that at least one person in this place is an avid hunter, so you're going to see, like, bear pelts and all kinds of stuff.

You're also going to see some very exotic furs. Like, there's, uh... There's, like, some... There's, like, a lion's head on one of the walls and stuff like that. Stuff that isn't native to Alara. Like, someone traveled off-continent to kill shit and then brought it back. Like, that kind of thing. Like, "Oh, look what I found!" "I don't know how you would feel about this, but Avalon would definitely saunter over to the lion's head first." "I was just about to say, Efini would be trying to get Avalon's eye and be like, 'No touching! No touching!'" "Oh, you like that, do you?" "Yes.

Yes, I do." "Oh, that was bagged on Talor some time ago. You ever been to Talor?" "No, I haven't." "Well, if you're into hunting, you should definitely go. That's where the big game is." "Thank you for your knowledge." And then he's kind of like... Go ahead, sorry. He's just like... He's just kind of... If he can, he's petting it. Kind of feeling the fur. He's grunting a little. He's like... And then I'd say there'd be an awkward beat. "Well, this way!" And trying to usher you through the house, like, "Stop touching our stuff!" And he's going to lead you to an office.

And there's going to be an older looking dwarf sitting there. And I'd say throughout the house, you're going to see lots of different... Again, lots of different trophies and stuff. Again, lots of weapons hanging up on the walls and stuff. A lot of them look like they've been used in battle. And purposefully either not cleaned or sharpened or whatever. It's like they tell stories. That's basically what you're seeing throughout the house. And you're going to reach this office. And... Um, Doldric is going to just sort of motion like, "There you go!" And he's going to get back on his merry way.

He's just going to kind of dump you here and go. Like, he's got a dozen things to do. So this office door is going to be open. And again, an older looking dwarf is going to be sitting there. And this guy has definitely seen some shit. Like, you ever look at somebody and it's like, "Oh wow, you are world weary. You have things to tell me." You're going to see lots of little scarring around the neck area. Where it looks like maybe someone raked at his neck. Something with claws. Something like that. And lots of little scarring around the eyes and mouth. And he's going to look up like he's just waiting for you to speak.

Like, "Yeah?" And you can tell he's racking his brain. Oh, oh yes. Have a seat, please. Norhorn. Thank you. Uh, Efene, pleased to meet you. My name is Eveline. He goes to take a seat as well. And he's going to brush some things on his desk aside. Like, he was clearly working on something. And he's going to make a lot of noise. You know how older people make the smallest actions? Like, opening a letter? Like, they're bracing their body for the effort of, like... Yep. So he's going to unfurl this. And he's got these little reading glasses that he has to put on. And they very, very Ben Franklin.

They very much sit at the end of his bulbous nose. Cool. Alright. And he's going to kind of pour over this. Horse shit! And he's going to slam his hand down on the desk. This is absolutely outrageous! And he's looking at you two like it's like, "Explain yourself!" Efene probably jumped slightly at the hand coming down onto the desk. But she'll try and compose herself. And look at him and say, "I'm afraid we do not really know anything in particular of this message. We just delivered it to you. I'm sorry. We cannot help you." He's going to hop down off of his chair.

And then he's going to kick it over. And he's going to start to pace furiously around his office. And he's doing this thing where he has the scroll and every once in a while he's going to read it over again. And then he's going to sit it down and sort of ball up his fists, like over and over again. Like he's going to hit something but just doesn't. Ozen! Grateful! Just... Ooh! And Efene's going to lean over to Efene. He's going to say, "Should I help him? It looks like he needs help." He's kind of whispering loudly. Efene's probably trying not to laugh. She'll just quietly say, "I think you might need a minute.

Just give him a minute." And he's going to say a lot of choice words. Much of it cursing. And he's going to eventually take a deep breath. Belend! Stawvin', right? Nothing that classy. "Oh, do you have any idea what it took to get that city back?" "And we just handed it over to them because we felt sorry and this is how they repay us?" Evelyn's nodding his head emphatically, trying to keep along with what he's saying. "I can imagine the aid that you must have given them. I'm sorry that they seem to be rejecting that right now." And he's like the slightest...

The slightest like... It's like, "Yeah, I agree." He's like, "AID! That's a word for it! More like a handout to those froofy elves!" And again, just furiously pacing. "Well, I'm not going to stand for it!" "Are you going back there?" "Not at this immediate moment, no." And he's... He's... He's kind of under the impression that you're their official messenger. Like, you're from Onikol. "Damn it!" And he is going to storm out into the hall and scream for someone to come to him. "I want a courier! Right away!" And they're going to scamper back down the hall and he's going to come back into the room, kind of a storm of a person right now.

Just like throwing things and he's going to go back to his chair and kick it again, but it's already down on the ground. "Thank you very much for your time! I appreciate the effort!" "You're most welcome, sir. I am sorry we bring you this bad news." "Please get the hell out of here!" "Getting the hell out, sir. Good day." Aveline's very confused. He does that thing where he wants to say something and his hand goes up, but he gets interrupted, then they get kicked out of the room. He's just like, "Oh." He leaves. "Oh, God. You would be very kindly shown the door after that.

And, um, how would you..." "Let's say that you've left the house now. How would you be feeling?" "I'd probably..." "Sorry, go ahead, suck." Aveline would have this look on his face like... I don't know if you... that Fry meme where he's just staring off into space. He's going to look at Efini and say, "Did we fail?" Efini is actually going to let out a laugh. She's been kind of holding it in and she'll look at Aveline apologetically like, "Sorry, sorry, that was just... that guy was kind of funny. I'm sorry." "And no, we didn't fail. We did our job. We handed him the message.

He had a bad reaction to the message. That's not our fault." His reaction was also kind of hilarious. Aveline will nod. She'll pat Aveline's arm as well and be like, "No, we didn't fail. We're okay. We did good. Don't worry." "All right. Should we head back?" "Yeah, let's go see if we can meet up with the others." "On your way back... So are you going to one of the houses or are you going to meet back up at the brothel?" "Would we have arranged a place to meet up?" "That's an excellent question." "I thought we arranged to meet up at the Dragon Keep." "Yes, you did.

Yes. So sorry." "Because that's where Jasper told the gnomes to meet us too." "Okay, I missed that bit." "Marek told us." "Marek's the character. Jasper's the person. I always got to remind myself." "It doesn't matter." "They're very similar. The only difference is how much facial hair that they can have in the office." "I would love to see Jasper rock that mustache." "I can't do it. I just can't do it. I mean, physically, I can't do it." "I would say on your way to House Dragonkeep, Aveline and Efthony, they would be approached by this half-elf gentleman." "Who...

You ever look at someone's face and instantly realize, 'Oh, you have no idea where you are.'" "Yep." "That kind of look. You can tell why they're approaching you instantly. It's like, 'Oh, you're lost.'" "Do they run into us?" "Not bump into you. You can tell it's more like a, 'Excuse me?' You don't want to bother someone, but it's very much..." "We already made eyesight at a standoff?" "Kind of, yes." "Okay." "So, yeah, he's gonna come up and just... I'm sorry. Are you guys adventurers?" "Maybe. Can we help you?" "Uh... Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?" "Sure, I guess." "Um, so, one, do you know where the exit of the city is?" "Yeah, we could probably show you." "Okay, cool.

Um, the next thing is, uh, I'm planning on starting the adventurer life." "I just have no clue where to start." "Okay, and you chose to do that in Brightport. Interesting. Okay, um..." "Yeah." "In the entire time, eyes completely wide." "You want to be an adventurer?" "Well, yeah, I mean, you've heard all the stories of the stuff that goes on out there. I mean, it's amazing." "Avalyn kind of blinks his eyes." "Would Avalyn or Efni describe their experiences on the road as amazing?" "Thinking about the trip to Ohnakol?" "No." "Yeah, Avalyn's thinking more about one day, there were just dragons." "And that was way back in the day, so he's just like, you want to be that." "And can you describe how you look for us?

Like, are you, do you have any scars on you or anything like that?" "Do you look fresh and new?" "Yeah, I mean, he's, so he's just a short, young, half-elf, male, brown hair, just kind of goes down to his shoulders." "Just lets everything kind of just hang naturally on his face." "He's dressed in a dull blue overcoat that he just kind of leaves unbuttoned." "And underneath is just a plain, worn shirt and grey pants and boots." "And then he just has like a backpack strapped to it, a red loaf that is kind of half bitten into." "And the other hand is just kind of tucked underneath his backpack strap." "Wow." "Like, no scars, just like, you could tell he probably comes from one of the poorer sections of the city." "But he is fresh." "So, Avlin's going to kind of look him up and down, almost like he did two years ago, and kind of mumble under his breath." "He's going to say, 'Yes, we are adventurers. Are you alone?'" "Y-Yeah, that's the other thing. I heard you can't really be an adventurer without a party." "Well, more specifically, without a bard, he'll like point down, or like, eye down to Efthony." "Big grin and wink up at Avlin from Efthony." "My name is Avlin.

It's nice to meet you." "Oh, nice to meet you too. Um, name is Ferris." "I'm Efthony. Nice to meet you. Have you traveled at all, Ferris?" "Um, well, I've been in the docks my entire life. So no. I mean, I don't even know how to get out of this town." "So, this is interesting. And not to interrupt. But the adventuring lifestyle is one that's kind of glorified, right? It's like, 'Oh man, you get to see the sight.' Usually it's glorified by townies." "It's glorified by people who haven't done anything else, so they don't know about the forced marching for days at a time to get to civilization, or being attacked by wildlife constantly, or, you know, the threat of disease, or starvation, or dying of thirst, or the worst." "Or the weather killing you, or whatever is out there." "What they hear about is those epic things about 'We slayed the dragon!' 'We looted this dungeon and found this ancient artifact!' or 'We saw this gorgeous light that appeared in the sky!' You know, that type of stuff.

That's the stories that circulate." "And it's kind of like, if you are a successful adventurer, in that you're still alive, have a party, and currently are in the works doing something, someone walking up to you like that is kind of like, 'Oh, I want to be an actor!' And then it's almost like, 'Cast me in your movie!' Like, it's very much like, 'Wow, okay, I don't even know where to start to give you advice.'" "Yep." "And, um, Evelyn's, in that vein, Evelyn's really thinking about going through a temple, all those traps for absolutely nothing, and that's the life he wants to jump into. Do you support this, or do you... After a long pause, Evelyn's going to say, 'Do you feel like this is your only choice?

Like, if you didn't do this...' "You shouldn't be living." "He's going to kind of like, look down, and then look behind him, almost as if he's looking out towards the docks, and look back, and start like, shaking his head in very small movements. Yes, yeah, it's... I think it's pretty much the only thing that I can do at this point." "Ethan is going to look to Evelyn and say, 'Maybe we introduce him to the rest of the party and let him hear some stories and tales, and then see whether he's actually ready for this life or not.'" "That's a great idea." "Oh, I... that'd be great." "You have the right mindset.

Never be alone." "Yeah, I... that's how my mother died, pretty much, and that can't happen." "Was she an adventurer?" "She used to be, and then she settled down here, but then there was an accident, and they were too far away, and there wasn't enough people there." "Evan will nod his head. He'll put a hand on your shoulder, and he'll say, 'Let's go. There are a lot of very interesting people for you to meet.'" "He'll kind of smile. Won't say anything, but just kind of shake his head." "So, let's catch up with Maric. Good lord. Maric, do me a favor. Give me a flat d20." "Alright, here goes.

Oof. Oof. Not good. Not good. Five." "That's a five. You know, how bad could it be? You're in the city, right?" "True. He was drinking a lot last night." "Maybe it's just the noise of the city that's just like, 'Oh my god, if the tens of thousands of you could just shut up for a while, that'd be great.'" "After a while..." "I'm just thinking, as he's walking through the streets, as he's walking by people, he's just going, 'Shh, shh, shh, shh.'" "As Maric's walking through the city, probably a pretty familiar route to get to House Dragonkeep, there's going to be this smaller tiefling individual that Maric's going to notice follow him." "Looks very shifty, by the way.

So shifty, in fact, that it's not even like, 'Oh, you're not even trying to hide!' You're just like, almost cartoon sneaking behind Maric." "Yes, exactly! Exactly, like on tippy toes, ding ding ding ding ding ding! Just very much. And he's going to creep up behind Maric, and he's going to start yelling at people around Maric, 'Shut up! Quiet!' "And he's going to sidle up next to Maric and kind of like, rub up against him, like shoulder to shoulder." "Hey, hey buddy." "Maric is going to just continue to walk, and having been to Brightport several times, he's just going to try to let this person get bored and walk away.

So he's just going to not give any attention at all for a moment." "And he's going to probably a few more times, 'Hey, hey, hey buddy.'" "One more time of ignoring." "He's going to try and reach into your pocket." "Okay, okay. I just want to set the scene here. So Maric's walking down the street." "Making your way downtown." "Making my way downtown. It's kind of like a sidewalk-y type area, I imagine. Or not in the middle of a street, unless it's a smaller street. There are people around though, right?" "Oh yeah, it's a busy street, yeah." "So the guy's going to start reaching into Maric's pocket, and Maric's going to do the up against a wall slam hand on his throat move." "Ooh, nice.

Do me a favor, give me a strength check, or an athletics check." "Ooh, ah. Yeah, let me do athletics here." "Oh, gorgeous! That's a 19." "So you're actually going to have him up off the ground a bit. Like he's just like tippy toes kind of scraping the ground, but he's very much off the ground." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" "I love him. He's the new... Ryan, I wish this was your character, honestly, because..." "Thanks, thanks." "Just because of the laugh." "Okay, so Maric is not like, baring his teeth, and like, he's not even stressed about it. This is really just a power move." "Like, uh-uh.

Like, back off. Like, not today." "So he's going to pull him, just going to let him down just a bit, so that his feet are on the ground." "He's going to release his grip just a little bit. He's going to be still holding his throat, so that that's like the force that he's holding him against the wall." "Right. No, just, it's more like, hey, arm's reach." "Yeah, yeah. And he's going to say, he's going to look at him, he's very close to him, so he's going to look him straight in the face, and he's going to say, 'Not the pockets.'" "And he's kind of holding his hands up." "And he's going to lean his head down and try and lick Maric's hand." "And his eyes are going to be really wide." "I'm so sorry, I wasn't really, it's just, look, look, come here, come here." "I was trying to tell you a secret." "What's your secret?" "He's giving him the time of day now in order to, Maric's whole point here is to let the guy get it out of his system, do his little spiel, and then goodbye." "So, sure, what's your secret?" "And he's going to try and look down, like, toward Maric's pocket." "I wasn't trying to make a withdrawal." "He was a deposit." "I imagine, so in my mind, Maric's holding his right hand on the guy's throat, he's pointing to his right pocket, so what Maric's going to do is he's going to put his left hand up and replace his right hand on his throat." "You know what I mean?

Like, he's going to switch his hands so that he can then look down in the right pocket and very carefully, like, look to see if the guy actually put anything in there." "Uh, yeah, sure enough, he did." "So, okay, um, Maric, give me a nature check." "Oh, good lord, yeah." "19. I'm on all 19s today." "You are, that's excellent. Um, this guy, who's clearly off his nut, um..." "Put some drugs in your pocket?" "More specifically, um, yarrow, which is like if someone mixed speed and meth and, like, it just, there's a lot of shit in here." "It's pretty, pretty addictive and usually expensive." "Um, and there doesn't seem to be a reason why someone would do that." "Okay, so Maric's taking all that in, does a quick mental equation, and he's gonna close his pocket up." "He's gonna sort of do his head looking around, like, he's gonna, he's like looking up, looking around, kind of like the 180 degree view, and he's gonna look back at the guy and he's gonna say, um..." "He's gonna say, 'Is this legit?'" "He, okay, he's going, uh, still eyes wide." "Oh yeah." "It's goooooood." "And then, without missing a beat, he's gonna lean down and kiss Maric's hand." "I love you." "Ohhhhh." "Maric is gonna get a big smile on his face as though he were really excited, like, all of a sudden.

The hand has not moved, by the way, obviously." "Right." "He's gonna say, 'This is amazing!' Ahhhh." "And then he's gonna stop the smile and go, 'Why me?'" "Um, so he's gonna look kind of quizzically at Maric." "How could you ask me that?" "And he's going to, he's gonna like point at his head, 'I hear him too.'" "And he's gonna like nod his head emphatically." "Um, Maric, that would be startled. Um, and he would at that point probably completely let go of the guy's throat and probably take a step back." "Just out of, just pure shock." "Right." "Yeah, and he's just gonna, little bit wide-eyed stare at the guy, and he's basically calculating like, 'Hang on, is this coincidence? Is this, you know, is this just a crazy drugged out dude just saying things?

Of course he hears somebody say things really quick and he's just gonna step back.'" "What does the guy do with that?" "He would probably fall to one knee when you let him go and then stand back up and kind of, in a overly dignified way, kind of brush himself off." "And he's going to tip his hat, which he is not wearing, and he is going to, he is going to just try to exit stage left but trip over a box." "And kind of scramble back to his feet and kind of give one last look to Maric and then slink around the corner." "Maric is going to stand there for a few more seconds." "Just basically digesting all of this and then kind of try to push it down a little bit and just be like, 'You know what, fucking crazy bright poor drugheads, you know, like, forget it, forget it, shake it off.'" "And then he's not going to open his pocket but he's just going to sort of look down at it and he's going to pat it and just sort of like feel the little packet of whatever's in there." "And then he's just going to completely shrug off the whole moment and he's going to walk, continue walking towards the house." "After a bit, you are going to arrive at House Dragonkeep. How would you like to approach the situation?" "Walk up straight to the door pretty nervous because I think Maric's got a lot of concern about what's going to happen behind that door." "And he's just going to knock on the door and under his breath he's going to say, 'Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.'" "So this door is going to open just a crack though. Usually when you open on, when you knock on the door of House Dragonkeep, there's a big wide open door and someone will be there to greet you." "This time it opens just a crack, like you're a bill collector or something like that." "And you're going to see a familiar face on the other side of it." "Thank God." "And it's going to be David.

And slowly he's going to open the door up." "Mr. Maric, how are you?" "Maric is going to noticeably be relieved. His whole body is going to stop tensing up and he's going to start to lean forward, almost like he's going to fall forward." "And he's just going to wrap his arms around David." "He's going to tense up a bit." "Right. And he's going to tense up a bit. Maybe almost he was expecting to get hit or something?" "And he's going to reach one hand behind Maric's back and kind of like gently pat a couple of times." "It's very nice to see you." "He's going to back away and just still have his hands on David's shoulders.

So you have no idea. It's fantastic to see you, David." "OK, I've got a couple of things on the list. Where's Tessia?" "David's going to look down and not speak for a while." "Maric is going to say it again. Same tone, same, it's just a repeat, exactly. David, where's Tessia?" "I'm very sorry, Mr. Maric." "I assume you didn't get the news." "God damn it." "David, can I have a seat?" "So you're very much still out front here and you can tell as he opens the door a bit wider, he's looking around like, 'Are you alone?' That type of thing. He's very much on his guard." "And he's going to back away from the front door and ask you to step in." "Maric's probably not going to notice any of that at all.

He's calculating right now. Hardcore." "He's going to go straight into the sitting room and presumably nothing's really changed." "There are a couple of differences. The odd decoration has changed, but it's not dramatically different. The colors of the walls are all still the same. There's a large change in the staff, I guess you would say. "The second you walk in, you're going to notice that there are a lot of people moving about. There are people standing guard flanking the door. So when you walk in, David's going to shut the door and lock it. "And then as you walk in, you're going to walk past four guards.

And these guys are heavily outfitted. And as you are walking into the sitting room area, you're going to notice three more guards just sort of posted in different sections of the house." "And normally in House Dragonkeep, there'd be this formal, 'Oh, have a seat in the sitting room. I'll get you something to eat.' David does not break stride. And if you hang around the sitting room, he would kind of promptly tell you, 'Please keep following me.'" "Maric will do just that." Let's catch up with Elrath and Clara. After you were done at House Silverclaw, would you be making your way to House Dragonkeep?

Yeah, I figure, yeah. Okay, same thing for Efthany and Aveline? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Okay, so catching... Okay, so okay, and you're bringing Varys probably? Yep. I would imagine. I didn't know if something had changed. No, we dropped him off at Sleepy Pete's. Enjoy your new life! Here's where real adventure begins. Shook him down, took all of his stuff. Oh no. Put some yarrow in his pocket. Time for you to be a man now. Off you go. So catching back up with Maric here, David's going to continue walking and he's going to lead you down several corridors. And there's probably a couple here that Maric's never even seen.

And this is going to continue as you go further into the house and then down. You're going to go down two floors. Now, this used to be the House Darksepian compound. There were several rooms dedicated to research. There were horrible experiments going on. And down here they would actually capture people and do terrible, unspeakable things to them in the name of "science" and "research." Largely, this area of the house was not used while Maric was visiting last time. It was kind of just left as a memory. But David is very much leading Maric through here.

I'm assuming that there would be some sort of telltale signs that this is like, "Oh, this was probably a dark place." In some way, right? Yeah, it's... I don't mean like blood on the walls, but just like, "Ehh." It's very much... This is also where they used to keep Amara. At the very, very, very end of the hallway there's an incredibly large room. But the rest of this place just kind of... It's like visiting an abandoned prison or something like that. It just shrieks. It's like, "Ugh, this place just gives me the willies." It's not very warm. It's noticeably colder than the rest of the house.

Maric's gonna just put his hand on his dagger that's on his belt and just kind of pull it out a little bit. Almost like a gun. He's got his hand on the hilt or whatever guns have. I don't know. Right. Handle. I don't know. He's just being a little cautious. He's trusting David, but he's also like, "Something's odd. This is really not okay." He's gonna be a little bit careful. He's gonna continue to follow David. There's gonna be a voice inside Maric's head. Does this seem strange to you? Maric's gonna close his eyes just for a second, like squint. Not squint.

Squish his eyes together. And then he's just gonna say to David, "David, this seems strange to me." No, he's not doing it. He's not actually doing it because the voice told him to do that. Because he wants to. Yeah, he's just like, "Actually, good point. David, this seems really strange." David's going to stop. Not abruptly, but like, yeah. And he is going to open a door nearest to them. Inside, Tessie is going to be sitting down. And David's going to look at Maric, "I'm very sorry for the subterfuge, but we can't be too careful right now." Maric is gonna probably, again, shocked and blinking, staring at Tessie.

And then he's gonna turn to David and he's gonna shove him and say, "Motherfucker!" He's going to be taken aback like, "Whoa." But at the same time, I get it. And he's going to hold up his hands. Again, I apologize. And Maric's just ignoring him now. And he's gonna go straight over to Tessie. Is she sitting in a chair? Yeah, you could tell this room used to be something different. It's been kind of partially decorated. There's a couple of chairs in here. And as you walk in, you could tell that this may have used to be a cell of some sort. So at Maric's outburst, Tessie's going to put down the tea she was drinking.

And you said Maric is going to walk inside. Yeah, he's gonna shove David and then he's gonna go straight towards Tessie, not rushing at her, ambushing her or something, but just shaking his head in that, "Oh my god, it's so good to see you." I'm just coming towards you. I'm not saying anything. She's going to hold out her hands and kind of try and grasp Maric's. You haven't seen this friend in a very long time. Tessie very noticeably has a large scar running down the side of her face and it traces away all the way down to her collarbone. Someone got a hold of her good.

And there's a second voice in the room that as soon as they see Maric, "Ah, come the hell on!" Oh my god. Maric is going to, he's not going to hug Tessie. He's not going to embrace her and make her uncomfortable. She's relatively tiny, right? Not super tiny, but yeah, floating around like five, six, somewhere in there. Okay, but for Tiefling, he's going to be respectful and he's going to basically take her hand and put his other hand on top of that and just shake. Basically the hug is with the hands. And he's just going to say, "I'm very, very glad to see you.

I thought for a few minutes there that everything was..." And then he's going to look at the scar and then he's going to look back in her eyes and just say, "I'm very glad you're here." And then at that point, he's still going to be looking at Tessie and he's going to go, "Hey, Gratic!" Guys, I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop for the evening and we'll pick things up. Oh my god! I knew it! Thank god. Oh my goodness. Jesus. This was a time. Interesting. Interesting. I'm very curious about everything. I don't mope. We're not going to sit down until after Dragon Con, huh?

No, let's keep going. Sorry, Jane's fine. Jane's fine. I'm awake! Come on, let's go! Oh man. Okay. Interesting. Okay. Alright. Oh goodness. That was a rollercoaster. It has been a time. Oh, down. When David said that you hadn't heard the news, I wrote down, "Tessie had gone question mark." Because I didn't believe it. Yeah, I had to go back and erase what I had written. I was like, "No!" No! Yes. I'm sorry. On the 26th of Faerieor, in the city of Esterholt, current mayor Jadzia Grimnus-Grace has called a meeting with a team that might be able to help the city with a very specific problem.

After speaking with their love Grimnus in the north, she reached out to her brother, Malchus Grimnus, in the city of Winterhaven. Seraph reached out to a rogue already in the city of Esterholt, Kindar Theda. Vallis reached out to Ember Baharat, a tiefling paladin from the Temple of Kord. And finally, Edmund Page, who assists at the Esterholt Shelter for Children. With the team finally gathered on the 26th, a meeting could commence about an ever-growing problem in the city of Esterholt, the Order of the Scale. I imagine everyone's kind of settled in by this point, like they greeted everyone at the door and just said like, "We're waiting for a few more people, waiting for a few more people," until everyone's saying down.

And once everyone's here, she'll shut the door and sit down between Seraph and Vallis. Alright, first of all, we would like to very much thank you for coming to hear us out. I know you're all very busy. And then she's going to take out a notebook where she wrote down her notes and kind of look down at them real quick and then back up at the group. We have an issue that started in town that is slowly starting to become a problem elsewhere. And we know for certain that if we do not act on this, there will be dire consequences. And then she'll kind of look over between Vallis and Seraph, like kind of check if they wanted to intervene.

Vallis would probably be nodding along at this point. And Seraph is still kind of absentmindedly just playing around with his nails and the dagger, probably keeping a very close eye on on Malkus in particular. And probably one of those things is like, "Why do I know you? Why do I know you?" That type of thing. Like, "I know I like, ah, that's right, Fairbay." That type of thing. Just just just kind of like you probably see the recognition on his face. Malkus just remains stone faced looking at him. I'm sure that you've all heard of Strahd at the very least two years ago, all of that.

We're still recovering in town. In the meantime, a certain sect has taken residence within the city called the Order of the Scale. And she's going to scan over the faces of everyone in the at the table, just kind of like searching for recognition. So who here would have heard of them before? Oh, Amber is making like the bitchiest stink face at just the mention. And yeah, Mr. Page would raise his eyebrows and nod. Malkus probably not unless they've operated in Winterhaven. Not that far out, no. Real down south organization. Okay. Airlove wouldn't have any recognition.

Kendara, it's not going to be clear whether he knows them or not. He's just going to be having a face and he's going to do his hand like, "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, come on." She'll give a small smile, like kind of awkward smile and continue. Well, they are a small cult, I suppose, of people who worship dragons. And over the past two years, they have been very vocal in our city, furious at the paladins. And she'll nod to Amber, who killed Strahd and demanding some sort of retribution or something of that sort. We decided, and she's going to look to Valus and Seraph again, that it was beyond our reach to shut them down.

Because once you shut down one person, people are going to start to call favoritism. We decided to let them go on with what they were doing, but we kept an eye on them. At that point, she's going to be looking mostly at Seraph. Yeah. And at that point, probably put the dagger away and just like, "Okay, I'm up." And just like, "Sit up." We've kept an eye on them for a while. They've become a bit of a problem. Though they haven't exactly broken any laws, technically. And again, probably just looking at people just to gauge reaction. I'm still waiting for the part where we're here to take action.

Recently, some of their men went out and found one of the resurrection scrolls. Eroloth takes a sharp intake of breath. I'm sure I don't need to spell this out for you, but yesterday, some of their people took off toward Odysseus. We think they're going to try and resurrect the dragon. Judzia will speak up again. Obviously, that would be horrifying. We need a group small enough that they could catch up to the order of the scale and stop this from happening by any means necessary. This started in our city, and we need to take care of it. Now, the one good thing that you have going for you is that they do not know that they are going to be pursued, which means they might be traveling at a slower pace.

Before I continue, are you willing to help us? So, they're going to raise the dead dragon who's watched over by the live dragon, and then there will be two dragons who will be very angry at all of us. Judzia will just give a quiet nod, close her eyes. Well, I think that makes pretty clear the gravity of the situation. I'm in. Hell, no one else is going to be able to do it. And Malchus looks at Erolove and just kind of grins. Erolove will smirk looking back at him and say, "Well, I'm glad I no longer wear the scales of Strahd or else this would be a little hairier." And then she'll look to Valus and Judzia and Seraph.

I'm in as well. Mr. Page is sitting very straight with his hands crossed on his knees and he will raise one of his hands to ask a question. Yes. I'm assuming that lethal force will be authorized, correct? That ember is going to nod already as if she already thinks that, but Judzia is going to stiffen a little bit. And then she's going to look to Valus for a second? He would probably sit forward a little bit. It's like, "Oh, okay, I'm up." So, okay, in the last couple of years, he's tried to curb his temper. Obviously, he's the captain of the guard in Esterhold now, so he can't just go up and down the street killing people.

He just can't. He has to weigh that out every time. See if you can reason with them first. But if they don't surrender the scroll, do what you have to do. Very well then. You have my help. He's going to look to Malchus and Erolove really quickly. You can see why we need your help. It's a bigger situation than we can deal with at the moment. You know, there's room for a third Grimnus on this team if you feel enthusiastic. Ugh, that's another thing. I would imagine Valus is probably itching. You imagine these guys in town, right? They haven't technically broken any laws.

They're just assholes. They're just preaching on the street corner or something like that. The kind of people that say, "You're all going to burn in hell!" That type of thing. But you're not breaking any laws. You're just annoying. So, when the go-hits fight, it's like, "Oh, now they're acting against the city. We can do something." I have kids and a wife, and do I? I would imagine Jadzia and Valus have talked about this, if I'm not mistaken. Oh yeah. Probably. So he would probably brighten up a little bit and almost look over to Jadzia. Can I go hang out with the team?

Almost! Jadzia's going to hold up a hand in a way that's very much, "We can talk about this later." But a polite little, "Ugh." Malchus will pipe up at the awkward silence and be like, "You have more important things to worry about these days, don't you?" He's probably going to cast his eyes down just a little bit. Just a little disappointed, but he gets it. I do have responsibilities here in the city. And the children are still young. I want to think that in one of the corners there's a bunch of wooden toys. Oh, probably, yeah. That are clearly handmade.

And it's just adorable. Just throwing that out there. I feel like Jadzia would speak up again right after that to kind of cover up the awkwardness. Obviously we'll provide you with horses. And there is a reward as long as you come back. Either with the scroll, anything that involves not allowing the resurrection to happen. We've set aside about 20,000 gold for this mission. Well, how would Kindara be acting? Because I don't know if he officially took the job. No, I mean at this point Kindara is, you can imagine, sort of a little bit like an ADHD type thing.

Where he's just been looking around the room. Kind of has one of his legs draped over the arm of the chair. Kind of being a little, like trying to be obviously nonchalant about everything. And he's looking around and he's going to sort of shift his leg back around. And be like, "Okay." He's going to look at everybody that's sitting down on his side of the room. He's going to look back over at Jadzia and Taraf and Valus. And he's going to lean forward a little bit. He's going to go, "Okay, so you're serious?" "A handful of devils and a tree hugger. No wonder you needed me." This is going to be fine.

Malkus gives him the biggest raised eyebrow. Like, "I'm sorry, have you heard of me?" kind of thing. "I have done things." "Google me." He doesn't actually say any of that, but it's just like, yeah, there is a museum, alright? That's the kind of thing that raised eyebrows is communicating. So very clearly though, Kindara's not even looking at anybody on that side of the room. He's looking at Jadzia and Taraf and all those people. He's not paying attention to that. He's almost overtly trying to be like, "Anyway, these people? Really? Okay, fine." Erolove's going to look to Valus and give a "Really?

This guy look?" Valus would shrug like, "I didn't bring him on board. He wasn't my pick." I feel like he would almost gesture to Seraph. Yeah. I would imagine Seraph's probably giving a wide smile at all this. Like, "Oh, this guy's such an asshole. I love him." That type of thing. So, Kindara's going to look directly at Seraph. Like, you get it, right? He's going to say, leaning forward even a little bit more, "Look, are there people involved? There's a cult?" "Yes." "Are they causing problems?" "Oh, indeed they are." "Do they bleed?" "Probably." And he's going to look back at everybody again with this little arrogance.

He's going to look back at everybody on his side. He's going to lean back in the chair like he's kind of done thinking about this. And he's going to go, "All right, I'm in." And he's going to wink at Erolove. And still, this guy really? Both of our older brothers are in the room. Yeah, no, no. And he's going to wink at Erolove. And then shift back in his chair. He's not looking at anybody anymore. He's just like, "Yeah, I'm in." Malchus then pipes his head and says, "Well, I suppose in a troop of particularly competent warriors and adventurers, there are bound to be a few forceful personalities.

But I have no doubt we can work together to accomplish the task at hand." And Malchus just kind of looks back and forth between all of them, looking for nods. That we're going to work together and not showboat our asses off when there's a dragon being resurrected. Mr. Paish will chime up in these monster grimness. I'll make sure that we all work to the best of our abilities. And make sure that, and he looks in the direction of Tandara, that we all do our part. Tandara's going to do the little, "Oh indeed, sir." He's going to sort of bow his head and do his fingers like, "No!" That was in character.

What time of day is it? It's probably early. This is probably a thing where I imagine they were going to get you on the case of the cake. Maybe you can go over there and talk to them. They took off before. It's like, "Oh, we have word that they're going to get ready and leave soon." But they took off a little earlier than the town was expecting. So this is probably something where you got in last night, took the, you know, they found out it's like, "Oh, they left." So very early the next morning. Get everybody together. Let's go. Okay, so Malchus continues.

Well, it's still early today. Pier's time is at the essence. Is there anything further before we take off? We should probably move quickly. I think Judzio would take a deep breath and then shake her head. "I wish you all the best of luck. And thank you so much for this." And then she'll stand up and probably lead them towards the door. And so as Malchus is walking, he just kind of looks at everyone and says, "Come, we'll take my carriage. It's down below." "We have to take the Grimnus mobile. Come on. It's a crowd pleaser." It's a party bus. The stitching is perfect.

It got fixed. It's divine. It got fixed? It's been two years. Very well, Master Grimnus. I shall drive then. Malchus nods. Tindar's gonna say, "Alright, devil boss." On his way out through the door, if that's okay, he's gonna just sort of lean in to Judzio. He's gonna say a little bit of a whisper, but a little bit like he doesn't really care if everybody hears him. He's gonna go, "Hey, if you've got 20,000, sure you could do 30." He's gonna give her a couple of finger blasts. Boom boom. I'm sorry. Finger guns. Thanks. Her husband's right there, man. If it helps change your mind.

Finger hand crossbows. Yeah, alright. Let me say it again at least. He's gonna say, "Oh, whatever. Anyway, if you've got 20, I'm sure you could do 30." And then, "Pew pew." And he's gonna walk out. I feel like Judzia, she'll kind of lean back a little bit when someone has bad breath or something, but mostly just because you're weird. I want to imagine that over the years, she has developed a rather Tessia-like poker face. So it's just kind of a soft smile that does not get phased at all during that conversation. Then she'll just kind of nod at the end and let him leave.

Like a very non-committal. Bless your heart. After he leaves, Erlev's gonna look to Judzia and Valis, who I'm sure are standing right there, and she's gonna say to them, "I don't plan on dying, but our mother," and she's looking at Valis while saying this, "is still very much in danger from the Black Hand. And I'm planning on coming back, but if I don't, will you make sure that she's safe?" Oh, Valis would nod right away. "We'll take care of it." Erlev will nod and then, I guess give him hugs. I don't know. Yeah, Valis for one would hug you, like, just like, "thank you," and probably lean in, maybe not too loud.

"Thank you for doing this. I could never repay you." And then there's probably a beat. Tell Malchus too. Of course, brother. Thank you. And then squeeze one last time, and then she'll actually probably go to give Judzia a hug too. She's family now. Aww, sister. Judzia would definitely hug her too. I'm not sure what led up to this, but I imagine last night that Malchus and Erlev both stayed at their house and their uncle and aunties and all that stuff. Yeah, caught her a little bit. So yeah, I'm sure she would just, there wouldn't even be hesitation, she would give you a hug.

Okay. And then she'll pat Erlev on the shoulder and be like, "I'll be out in just a moment." Of course. And then I guess Erlev will take that as her cue to leave and then close the door behind her? I imagine that there would just be a beat of silence where neither of them move, and then Judzia is going to approach Phallus and set her hand on his shoulder and try to make eye contact with him. Do you want to go? Again, it's no matter what he does, he feels like he's ditching someone, right? So it's probably be like an eye roll thinking about it, that type of thing.

I don't feel right sending them on their own. I feel like when they're alone, there isn't a poker face. So Judzia is like, immediately going to start tearing up a little bit. And her lip is going to quiver slightly, like not obnoxious, just like, and she's going to give a small nod. Then you should go. But you're coming back. He would reach out and give Jadzia this great big bear hug. Of course, I'm coming back. And he would probably start that, um, that, oh, I have so many things to get ready, that type of thing. Probably grabbing a couple weapons he hasn't had to use in a long time.

So... Mr. Page will catch up to everyone with a really fast and silent stride, and he'll get to the cart first and open the door for everyone, and from under his robe that basically cover him all around him, like the journey, the journey look a bit. He'll take two otterskins out of his small bag and five small, simple wooden cups. A toast, perhaps, to our newly formed group and to our success. Malchus will take one, sure. So he'll start pouring wine from one of the waterskins in four cups and hand them around, and then he'll pour water in one of them and hand it to Tandara, and says, "No alcohol for the children." Wow.

Malchus will be like, "Cheers, cheers!" Tandara is going to lift his glass, he's not going to break stride, but he's going to keep looking at Mr. Page, and he's just going to say, "To success!" Indeed. And then he's going to shoot the water like it's a shot, and hand it back to Mr. Page. He will take it with both hands, nod, and put it neatly in his bag. I feel like when he said the "none for children" line, Amber did cackle just like I did. And she's sipping at hers, but... Guys, I think that'll take us to Dragon Con. If Thales dies, I will cry on stage.

I sent him a message to let him know that, and he said, "I know!" and that's the reason that ending scene happened. So if he dies... If any of the Grim-Nai die, I would probably... Grim-Nai! I'm not ready to be a single parent. Let me tell you right now, you know what this is going to be. This is going to be the three of us all diving in front of killing blows for each other and trying to be the first one to die. It's going to be all of us saying, "No, you get to live! No, you get to live!" As soon as it was brought up that Thales was coming, it's like, "Okay, well, Air Love has to plan ahead that she's going to jump ahead." Man, we really hope you enjoyed today's episode.

It was a big one. That is going to do it for us for now. We are getting ready to pack up and go to Dragon Con. There is going to be an extended rest. We will be doing that. And of course, there will be episodes while we're gone. Everything's going to be fine. Don't worry, you'll get content. But we will be traveling to Atlanta, Georgia from August 29th all the way through September 5th. We'll be enjoying Dragon Con. We'll be hanging out with the cast, and hopefully we'll get to see as many of you as possible. We will be putting out feelers to try and meet up with people.

Please pay attention to our Facebook, our Twitter. If you're on our Discord server, hit us up on Discord. You can get there through Patreon.com/dandr. And we've been planning stuff out through there. Trust me, you will see us at Dragon Con if you look hard enough. We'll probably be updating our Twitter constantly, adding pictures and stuff like that. So if you don't follow us on Twitter, please go there. Follow us. We'll be doing a big listener meetup, probably that Saturday on the 1st of September. But yeah, there's more information to that. Please hit us up at dandrpodcast@gmail.com.

That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com with any suggestions, any criticisms, any whatever. And of course, if you give us a 5-star rating on iTunes, that helps us out a bunch. We'll see you this next week with extended rest, a bunch of new content. Thank you guys so much for supporting us, and we'll see you next week!