Conscience

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

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Visit Patreon.com/dandr for more details. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Kelsey. Hi, I'm Kelsey and I play Aster, the Elven Archer. And Rob. Hey, I'm Rob, I play Ubo, the half-orc druid of the mountain. And Michael. Hey, I'm Michael and I play Anvin, the half-elf wizard. And Xavier. Hey everybody, I'm Xavier and I play Donovan, the human fighter. And Susan. Hey, I'm Susan and I play Mattie, the human cleric. And James. Hey, it's James, I play Masoka, the half-elf rogue.

Well, that'll be a fun behind the scenes for anybody who listens to those. [laughter] Oh, the level-ups? Everything. Everything? All of that. Everything is awesome. Susan calming me down and all that good stuff. Pure gold. So, you guys made some pretty big decisions, I would say, in the last sit-down. You essentially stopped a slaver from bringing two dragonborn further to the west coast. This person said that they were going to Ebony Harbor, but who knows if they were telling the truth. I like this spin on it better than the one you gave behind the scenes.

Everyone knows what happened. [laughter] Someone shot first, was it Greedo, was it Han? You decide. [laughter] But, yeah, you guys did, you were merciful to the last two remaining shield hands and you let them go. You did take the cart, the dragonborn are still unconscious but no longer tied up. I believe you said you were working on the metal bands around their snoots. Yes. Okay. Let me ask a question. Would you continue for the day toward Aubrey or would that be the end of your day? Would that be just too much? What time of day is it? By the time all this is said and done and you guys move the cart a bit, I would say this is later afternoon.

Not even yet. I think we want to deal with the dragonborn first probably before moving because if they're unconscious, get them out of the chains and everything. Yeah, I know you guys were specific in that the door was wide open so that they knew that they weren't captive anymore. Yeah. This isn't a regular wagon, it's not decked out for travel, it's decked out for imprisonment. So it's not the comfiest ride, it's more a flatbed truck with a cage around it than it is cushy benches and stuff like that. When you said decked out for imprisonment, I immediately thought, you mean filled with prison themed decorations?

Yes. Prison decorated in 2018. Little paper mache ball and chains. Taxi cub here. So yeah, it's not a very fancy card, it's more reinforced to keep things in. So you have untied them and all that. I would say after a while you would get those bands off, but they were on pretty tight. You had to fiddle with the lock on that quite a bit. Didn't we keep them in their chains just so, you know, because we don't know how they're going to react when they wake up? That's probably not a bad idea. Okay, we could do that too. I thought that's what I had said was, uh, keep the chains on and take the bands off.

Okay, so you are, okay, I want to remind you of something. Red Dragonborn have the ability to breathe fire. Yeah, I was going to say, you might want to give them their hands to have something to like distract them with. That's a good idea actually. That's probably why the bands were on in the first place. Maddy wouldn't say much, but she'd probably just say, please take the chains off. So. Yeah, okay, he would have lied. Okay. These Dragonborn appear to be out cold, like they're just out. This wagon driver, I believe he was knocked out as well. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, Aster was going to execute.

And Donovan stepped in and said something about like, hey, maybe we should just. No, no, no. Okay, okay, okay. I was a Laster. I'm, I'm misremembering. I'm sorry. Who was it then? No one was going to execute. I think that the argument was like, whether or not to like, the other two guys, whether or not to like take them to Aubrey or set them free, not whether to like execute them in Coldplay. I remember this priest was full of holes. That's all I remember. Well, there was a debate on whether, on whether arrows could do, could knock someone out. Yes, that, yeah.

And we established it, yes. Technically, yes. If you lose enough blood, I guess, I don't know. Okay, so the point is, he's alive, unconscious, and two Dragonborn are alive. The remaining two Shieldhands are long gone. And you guys have a wagon. Mattie would probably tend to any wounds on the Dragonborn. Okay. It did appear as though they were in a scuffle, probably when they were being apprehended, something like that. Nothing too dire. But they they have no armor, no, no weapons, nothing like that. They're they're basically in just kind of cloth sacks, that type of thing.

It's very easy to spot a run of the mill slave because they are given the bare barest necessities. Mm hmm. So this brings me back to my question. Are you continuing or you guys just was that just too much? Done a little check to horses and check everyone on the party, except Mattie. It's gonna kind of like how that Mattie. Wow. I quickly and just suggest that. Let's just rest here for a little hour or something. Sharpen your blades, get your armors in order. Got your breath and then I suggest we keep pushing till nightfall. Astor will not like check on money per se, but kind of like be like nearby her and kind of like giving her her space like they're not like prod or anything would just pay like if obviously be like I'm right here like if you need to like vent or talk to someone or anything.

Once Mattie confirms that the Dragonborn, well, recently being in a scuffle they're okay for the moment, she let out a deep breath and if everyone's in the earshot she's like, I guess we need to talk. That'll give the like knowing look. Donovan's gonna say do we now apparently we don't need to talk we can just do whatever we want. Maybe we can hold off the conversation for later after the tensions died down from the fight. It's a good idea. Okay. That hurt my heart. So, let me ask a question. Let me do a DM thing. Does anyone want to spend some hit die or anything like that while you're taking this rest.

Yes, I kind of would like it. Let me let me make some more blood inside myself. Go right ahead. For anything. Oh, on the bright side, it doesn't take many died to get you back up to full health. So that's that's wrong button that sounds death saving throw. I click on the death save. Are we supposed to have to hit that. Half of it right on purpose. In theory. Yeah, I'm just wondering because I only have one. Well, you probably used some you. Yeah, you may burn through some. Yeah. Do you get them back after a full rest. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Can you you can spend as many as you want or?

Yeah. All right, cool. God. It's Yeah, I mean, we did that and I figure that's a little oppressive. Oh, you can have my day. Oh, there we go. Wow, back up to full baby. Jason, can I give him my day? Can I get into Ambedd's mouth or something? Don't give him one of your hit dice that could kill him. But compatible. Explode from like double L. I believe my blood type is D six. So you guys are taking the short rest and this this this this gentleman, the cart driver again face kind of burned. He looks he looks like he's been through the ringer, especially with all the damn holes put in him, is going to wake up kind of is he gagged or just tied up or what's his what's his status?

Let's gag him. He gets spells. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's fair. We took everything like like his holy symbol and stuff like away. But yeah, just yeah, he's pretty secure for the moment. I mean, I don't see any reason to ungag him except for like water or food or something until we get to Aubrey. That's fair. Yeah, he'll come to and be a bit groggy for what? What? Where is he currently? Is he back with the Dragonborn? Where are you storing him? I like that idea. Is there first meal when we were? If we haven't started going yet, he's probably still just against the cart.

When we get the Dragonborn out of there. He's definitely going in there. I'm sort of been like, let the like shotgun on the driver's seat with whoever drives a cart. So yeah, he'll he'll kind of come to just gag. Can't really speak. Got a very distinctive voice, though. Yeah, that's another reason to gag him. Let's roll for something here real quick. OK, the Dragonborn is still passed out in the back. But I'd say an hour is going to go by if you guys are kind of letting tempers cool. I would imagine you're cleaning up and you're kind of getting your wits about you, bandaging any wounds that you might have.

Just catching a meal resting before you hit the road again. Again, good for you. You have a cart. It may not be super comfy, but you could rest your feet and sit in the back. Is it like seats on the side or is it just like... No, it is a flatbed. Yeah, it's like the flatbed. So it's like, do you want to chill with the Dragonborn? I'm probably just walking in the front. Matt, you'll probably be walking on the side, too. OK. I'll drive the cart. The Dragonborn is still at like the back of the flatbed. Yeah, they're in the back. But the door is wide open. Was there like a tarp covering it, too?

Yes. That's off now. Yeah, I would imagine. Yeah, because that was... Masoka tore that off last. Right. Masoka will sit just inside the doorway of the cage, cross-legged, staring at the Dragonborn. OK. And Uba will walk, I guess. Yeah, Astor probably walked just to... We have a couple of people keeping an eye out outside as well. Right. Awesome. So here's what we're going to do. You guys had a rough day. So what we're going to do is we're going to advance time till mid-evening. Let's say it's like 9, 10 o'clock, somewhere in there. It's so dark that it's really tough to get by unless someone's traveling ahead with a lantern and all that stuff.

So it's pretty much when most adventurers knock off, which means you have two full days of travel until you are in the town of Aubrey. So congrats on that. Here's what we're going to do. Is there anything you would like to do in camp? You're setting up, you got your fire going, it's crackling, you're getting your meals together. Have you guys spoken since the events of the fight and the rest you guys took or has it just been like maybe short bursts of conversation, something like that? Yeah, I probably would have talked to most people. Most people. Aww.

Xavier! And we would actually go up to Mattie when we're making camp. Or Susan. Yeah, yeah, Mattie. I was actually going to have it wrong at first. I was like, "Oh no, it's Susan. Nope, it's the other way." You know, that character. I was so into character, I was like, "Wait, is that wrong?" No. See that line between fantasy and reality blurs? Yes. I'm invested here. Okay. Emma comes up and tries to break the ice and says, "This will be a funny story to tell Father White. Two dragonborns walk into Aubrey." Two freed slaves walk into Aubrey. Wouldn't be the first.

And she's looking down with her arms crossed while saying this. To start a new life. To go on to right wrongs. Or to live. Just like many others. "Aven, I'm sorry I put you all in danger. But I'm not sorry for attacking them." I know why you did. So I'm not surprised. But everyone is counting on each other. So we should make sure that... We know when people would probably break and protect each other. "Aven, this scares me. I didn't know this was something inside of me. We all knew it was something inside of Addie, but I thought I was over it. I thought this was nothing to me.

This scares me." And then she's looking at him straight in the eyes while saying this. Did this start again with Back with the Orcs? Or has it just been buried? "I never thought about it. You know it was my sister's life calling to seek them out. Every day was spent making herself stronger to seek them out. And I thought, I stupidly thought that I was above it. That it was behind me. That I had a calling. And then when faced with slavers, I put everyone around me in danger. I don't want to be that person." I know. But you can't take this all by yourself. If we don't share the burden, then, you know, if we don't know each other what's happening, how can we make sure that we can't help to get each other better?

Get you through this? You know? She's gonna look down again, like trying to compose herself. "I just don't want to put the people I care about in danger. I don't want to. I'm sorry." And then she's gonna look back up at you. Ema's gonna put his arms around you. "Look, we're not gonna go hide in the library and let everyone, the world go by. This isn't something we can master in one day. Might take a while. But together, as a group, we can do this. We can get through so much. I mean, I've had hardships. I mean, look at our group here. We've all had many things and I'm sure there's many other things that we all haven't told each other.

I mean, for all we know, Ubo could be scared of mice. When Ema says that, Maddie's gonna chuckle, but then she's gonna like try to discreetly wipe out her eyes. But the truth is we don't know a lot about each other because we just got together. So we need to start creating that trust. But let's not hide from it. Or from each other. I need to let everyone know, don't I? Yes. If we want to make sure everyone trusts each other. But as long as you're ready. No, they need to know why I put them in danger today. It's just hard, you know? I know. While I don't have as large of a hardship in my past, I'll have to tell you about my entrance exam sometime.

I'd love to hear about it. Come on, let's go talk to the group. Okay. Can I ask a question? Where would Donovan be right about now? I got confused. Is this still while walking or is this at the campfire? Campfire. This is like, yeah, setting up, you know, yeah. I'm pretty sure we went off to the side to have this conversation. Xavier, do we want to make the conversation Ubo and Donovan were having? In Skype? Yeah, sure. So yeah, off in the background as they were talking about whether Ubo was afraid of mice, Ubo was literally eating a raw mouse he found on the ground.

I was mentioning how it sounded like a mouthful of chips. Yes. And then Ubo offered Donovan mouse saying, you want mouse too? I can get another. It's kind of shrugs. Yeah, sure, why not? Ubo gives Donovan the mouse. Ubo walks off into the nearby wilds to look for another one. All right, I'll stick that mouse to a stick and put it over the fire. Was it alive? I assume after he bit his head off it was dead. Oh, okay, that's the same mouse. Okay, okay. Okay. Gosh, it's dark. Yeah, he'd be with the priest guy. Do we even have a name or did we not get his name at all?

You didn't get his name yet. The formal introductions haven't been made. All right. Before Ubo wanders off into the wild for a moment, he just yells like really casually, "Anyone else want mouse? I can get many mouse." We're doing a mouse run. Anyone want one? He doesn't hear any replies and he goes, "Just me then." Donovan, yes, is going to hear a voice. Excellent show today with those slavers. I was quite proud of you. I turn around very fast to try to see where the hell did that voice come from and reach for one of my menu weapons. So that voice doesn't appear to have come from any of your party members and you don't see any strangers in the camp with you.

Oh my God. I remember you said that something was coming up with this. I'm excited. Go on. OK, so yeah, I frantically try to look for where that voice came from. We absolutely cannot have those people on the streets. It's a credit. I look in the cage, see if the two dragonborns are awake. They are not. All right, who's there? Show yourself. Is he saying that out loud? He's drawing a short sword. You good, buddy? There's no one else here. Dandin looks around. Hold on, there's someone around the camp. I think he's taunting us. No one said anything. Are you OK? Hold on, keep listening.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just paying you a compliment. You've done a monitor quite the credit today. Ha ha. Sorry. Sure, thanks. Do you mind saying that in person face to face with me so that we can talk? Well, that might be difficult. I don't appear to have a body. I'm sorry, I'm being quite rude. Kirkland Sumner, paladin of a monitor. OK, Kirkland. Are you a ghost? There's going to be a pause. I don't rightfully know. Though, not to be rude, you are wearing my armor. I can only imagine that this was handed down to another paladin in the event of my unfortunate passing.

Most likely, yes. Guys, I think I lost a lot of blood today. I'm going to go for early bedtime, alright? I thought we were going to talk. You guys go ahead. I'll just be over there trying to sleep it off. What's going on, Donovan? I'm not too sure, but I don't like it. Sounds like someone's talking to me. So it happened to me once and it was on something that I can't find here. So since I haven't had that specific thing, I think I should go to bed and not drink for a while. Emon looks at Maddie. Is there anything you think Maddie could help with as we start walking up in here this last bit?

Nope, no, that's fine. No need. I'll just sleep it off. Don't bother, Maddie. She's got other things to worry about. Maddie's going to flinch and look down. I can see that I've encroached upon your privacy. I am quite sorry. As introductions go, this is quite rude. I wasn't given much of an alternative, though. Okay. I could leave you alone, if you'd like. Donovan just goes away from the camp and starts bedding down and he'll whisper to his armor, trying not to be heard by the others and keep having this conversation. Alright, so I'm wearing your armor. That appears to be the case, yes.

Okay, okay. And you are dead. Ah, unfortunately, yes. Okay. I'm going to take off this armor now. Well, be my guest. You are bedding down for the night. I guess that's true. You have a big day in the morning. Alright. Good. Yeah, that's great advice. I'll talk to you in the morning, alright? Of course. If you need anything, I'll be right here. You understand this is a huge adjustment for me as well. Yeah, I'm sure it must be. Welcome aboard, sir. Now I'll take off everything, if you don't mind. Of course. And as soon as everything's off, can I still talk to him? Are you testing that?

Yeah, I'll be whispering, Kirkland. Yes? Ah, dammit. Ah, never mind. Alright, see you in the morning. Good night. Am I to understand that none of us can hear that voice? Nope. Mm-hmm. I love it. Yeah, I love it. It's like the opposite of dolphin. So, it sounded like Maddie wanted to pull people together. Yeah. More like Eben nudging. We'll get Donovan, have him understand tomorrow. Let him rest, let him regain whatever that was. Like I said, we all have something. And then I go get Masoka since Aster seems to be nearby already. And has Ubo come back with a mouth? I imagine by now he's got a couple.

He's got a snack pack. Okay, so after everyone's like sitting around the fire, Maddie's gonna like pat a piece back and forth with her arms crossed, like looking down. I owe you all an explanation. And she's gonna glance over to Donovan and all of you. So, I attacked someone today with barely any provocation. I'm expecting you guys are wondering why. I look over to the group. Aster's just listening but letting her take her time. The ones who had slaves. That was good. Yes. But I attacked before we knew. I went off of my instinct and put you all in danger, especially Donovan.

She's gonna glance over to Donovan again. This is hard for me and she's gonna cross her arms over her chest. I was a slave. But it's more than that. And then she's gonna look to Anvin like this is more than he knew too. I was a slave just for a little while but I was sold into slavery by my own mother who... And then she's gonna look down and kind of like turn away from the group. She was a slaver. She... We pissed her off, my sister and I, and she decided she didn't want to surround anymore. And... Yeah. So I didn't know this was a thing and she turned back around.

I didn't know that I was still holding on to this and... I'm sorry I put you all in danger. Anvin goes up to Maddie and takes her hand. And she's gonna put her other hand up to her mouth. I didn't mean to make you guys... I'm sorry. Hey, hey, hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay. You don't need to apologize for anything, okay? I'm so sorry. After just kind of like look around at everyone else like I don't know what to do. Like they want to help but they don't know like... Maddie. Maddie, just remember that we are your family now. She's gonna wipe the tears out of her eyes and then she's going to look to everyone and say, "I didn't know that I hated my mother this much.

I'm sorry and I should have... I should have thought about this before this. I'm... I'm so sorry." Something like that's not something you get over. It's... you're incredibly strong, Maddie. To even be where you are right now, that's... And I mean, hell, we're all on the road for a reason. I think each of us has our own baggage. If there's anything that we can do to help you... I don't want this to become the thing that defines me. I don't want to be the person who reacts or doesn't think whenever I'm faced with slavers. I don't want to put you all in danger so I know that I've asked a lot of you today but...

I don't know. Just help me watch for signs. I don't know. It doesn't define you when we haven't been together as a group for that long but... I mean, when I think about you, that's not the first thing that comes to mind at all. You're strong and your faith is incredible. Those things... you're a good person, okay? Put it like this. You are the bright sun of our group. That was Maddie. I... I will try my absolute best to keep this from happening again. Why? You have a storm inside you when you see slavers. When you see slaves. Use it. It is a good storm. It hurts people who do much wrong.

It frees people who did nothing wrong. Maddie's gonna glance over to Donovan again. It also hurts... those around me, those I'm supposed to protect. And Misoka. Didn't Misoka get really hurt in that too? I think most everyone did. Yeah, I know Donovan went down like three times. That's why I kept looking to him. Yeah. Exaggeration. Misoka's... he's sitting down trying to tie Toppo to his dagger hilt. God. He'll kind of... he'll still looking at it and he'll just say, "I've never once felt like I was in danger around you. I'm glad you did what you did. And I would fight a thousand slavers with you." Okay, so you know like that "aw" kind of face?

Where you like pinch your cheeks and you're like "aw!" Like where you pinch your lips together and you're like "hmm." Kind of that face. Yeah, kind of that face that Misoka... even though he's looking down. I wake up every morning with all of you ready to die. I hope all of you think the same. We do day... If we wanted to be safe, we could go back, crawl into the hovel. Be safe. Live in shadow. Accomplish nothing. Instead we are here, ready to die. But also ready to do. And then we'll look over and... I actually agree with you, Ubo. That's how I feel other than I do it so we can live.

But if we do die, which I hope we don't, at least I know we're fighting something we care about. Otherwise I could be studying in a tower in Umaniro right now. Ubo nods at Ambin and then he steps closer to Mattie and says... Mattie with sunshine. A mona... A monitor? That one. Mattie with a monitor. And Mattie with the storm inside against slavers. Are both Mattie. Do not try to deny the storm. You will lie if you think you are only the sun. Kind of the off face again. You kind of bring your lips down and kind of... And then she's gonna hug Ubo. Ubo doesn't get any hugs.

But he's seen this happen before. From Mattie. He only pats her on the shoulder with one hand. He doesn't fully embrace her. It's pat pat, rest hand. But only because he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. Well, he's seen everyone else do it, but also he's like... Cuddle? Like, he's even kind of a hard pat on the back to show that he's not like... He doesn't think you're like, fragile, you know? Yeah. Mattie will go and nod and say to Ubo, "Thank you." "I really appreciate that." "I just have to come to terms with it myself, I guess." "But if this is..." And then she's gonna look down again.

"If this is something that you don't..." Maybe not you, Ubo, but she's gonna look to the rest of the group. "If this is something you don't want to continue traveling with me because I completely understand." "'Cause I don't know if I can control this." Well, I don't speak for the group. But when I first tapped into my abilities, it was uncontrollable. I might have hurt a few people. I had to learn control. And if I could learn that, and it was one of the most difficult things I did, you are so strong. I think you can control this and become even more powerful and use that focus for good against this.

Against the slavers and against anything you put your heart towards. And your mace. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, what he said. I mean, honestly, fuck slavers. I mean, we were probably gonna end up fighting that caravan anyways. I mean, the pieces were starting to come together. And, I mean, if I were to die fighting slavers trying to take them out of the world, then it's not that bad a way to go. But maybe next time we should do a safe word so that we get into position. Just a thought. It should be blue. [laughs] That makes no sense. [laughs] Thanks, Aster. And if Donovan gives you any shit over this after we catch him up, then I'll punch him for you.

No. He took enough licks today. I guess that's it. So, what are we having for dinner? [laughs] There's still a mouse roasting. Alrighty. Also, I'm glad Donovan was sleeping, 'cause he would have felt real small. Aww. How's about we pick things up the next morning? I'm assuming... Before we pick things up the next morning, actually, did you feed the wagon driver, the priest? [laughs] Did he scooch up next to somebody next to campfire? Did he get a share? Just the rest of the mouse. [laughs] Is that the one Donovan left? [laughs] Yeah, mouse corpse. [laughs] So, no?

So, mouse. Yeah, mouse. [laughs] Okay, then let's pick things up the next morning. Amven. Mm? Before we get rolling with anyone else, I need you to roll a flat D20. This is your last two days on the road. This is it. You are within striking distance of Aubrey, and I got a feeling you got a big roll in you. I already run into so much trouble. So, did nothing teach you today? Oh! 17, ladies and gentlemen. There, see? I was expecting a one. Oh! I told you! Probably more rope swinging. 26. [laughs] Well, this isn't gonna matter until I have a fight, then it's a one, then I-- Oh, jeez.

Oh, you're turning a new leaf here, man. Yeah, man, that's the corner. That's the-- yeah. That's the 14 HP, Amven. [laughs] It's a new you. That's yesterday's news. Yeah. You guys are waking up. It's a beautiful day, sun shining. I imagine you guys are getting your stuff together in the camp and getting ready to head out on the road. Yeah, first-- very first thing I do when I wake up and my eyes open, Donovan is going to whisper, "Care Clem. Care Clem, are you still there?" [whistles] Good morning, sir. We are blessed with a gorgeous day. Thank a monitor's grace.

Nice. I'm-- He's going to start putting on the armor, very, like-- how do you call that? Not reluctantly, but like-- Tentatively. Yeah, he's given up, or he's giving in, just like-- Ah, just the eye. Ah, jeez. Relented. I don't know. I realize-- Resigned. Yeah, resigned. Thank you. Resigned is perfect. I realize that my rudeness knew no bounds last evening. I didn't actually get your name, good sir. My name's Donovan, Care Clem. It's great to meet you. Were you there the whole time, or did you sort of wake up yesterday? Honestly, the last thing I remember was facing off against goblins.

But then I seemed to have regained consciousness during your fight with the slavers. Again, excellent work. Thanks, thanks. You missed a good bear fight just before that, though. Mm. [LAUGHTER] Yeah, so I got proof. [LAUGHTER] I forgot about that. All right. I noticed someone else serving a monitor in your order. Yeah, you'll meet her. She actually refused to be bestowed your armor upon her and deferred it to me, I think, because she thinks I'm so much of a more disciplined follower of the monitor. I don't know. You're in good hands, I guess. Let's go see the group, shall we?

I'll make the introductions. It won't be weird at all. He would lead the way. He's awesome. Yeah, I thought I was going to step up to the group, who's probably just breaking up camp. I'll just see. Hey, everyone, I have something to confess to all of you. My armor is talking to me. Evan nudges Matty. See, I told you. [LAUGHTER] In Donovan's head, he's going to hear, good day, everyone. He says good day, everyone. Donnie, are you just looking for attention again? It's OK. I wish I was. Anything you want to tell to this fine group, Kirkland? I am very pleased to meet each and every one of their queens.

I was very pleased to meet you all. All right, to Aubrey. [LAUGHTER] Matty will approach, but kind of flinch before getting too close to him and hesitate. Did you-- and then she'll look down. Did you want me to take a look at it? Like, she's probably the only one taking him seriously. You could if you want. Does the name Kirkland Sumner ring any bell? Does it, Jason? Well, you can roll a history or religion check. Hey, since I'm, like, into that a monitor shit, can I get any, like, I don't know. If you rolled a religion, you can roll advantage. Yeah, I'll do that. [LAUGHTER] Note of history.

No, they're the same. [LAUGHTER] Ah. 20. That absolutely does ring a bell. So get this. Kirkland Sumner is one of the more famous names in a monitor's history. This guy was supposedly crazy devout. Not zealotous necessarily, but took his position very, very seriously. He would chew people out for drinking while wearing-- while wearing anything adorned with a monitor. He's like, you represent the cause, good sir. That type of thing. Like, really chew them out. That easily out. So much so that this guy took a vow of chastity. Now, he didn't necessarily expect everybody else to follow in that.

But he thought pleasures of the flesh distracted you from your job. Very Jedi Knight ordership. Oh, over and over. This guy disappeared well over 100 years ago. Supposedly, the last task he was sent on was rescuing a group of children who went missing. And the last that anyone had heard, the children actually were rescued and sent free. But he and his troop were ambushed in the process. The last that they were heard of that they were-- the children were underground for some reason. Maybe they went exploring. Maybe they just got separated from their families.

But while rescuing these children, they were ambushed by goblins, and he didn't make it out. Yes, it does. Kirkland Sumner's one of the-- he's known to be one of the most devout followers of a monitor. He died over 100 years ago. I hear that, Kirkland. You got fans. There would be a long silence. I really don't know what to say about that. It's-- it's been over 100 years. Well, we did find you in a very nice place. It seems like you were buried with a lot of respect. I'm not saying we went in a tomb and took the armor from the tomb. I'm just saying we saw the place that you were buried in, and it was very respectful to your great name.

Hey, since he's like a holy ghost, could he tell that you're lying? And he's talking to himself in front of us. Yes. Oh, wow. OK. So I-- That's why Astrid was just like, I don't know. And-- and then seeing that Mattie was, like, taking it more serious and hearing that name, did we already do a arcane-- arcana check on the armor? I think that when we first saw it, maybe. Yeah, something just to see if it were-- if it had some sort of magical quality. Because I was like, wait a second. Would my religion, like, check gathering ghosts? Like-- [LAUGHTER] Um, at the very least, things appear to be a little different now, if you'd like to run an arcana check.

Oh, I-- I defer to Anven. [LAUGHTER] I have a plus one. [LAUGHTER] I will go up and give it a whirl. Let's see. Since this armor-- Something's coming off this armor. There is something definitely different about it. You're catching a different vibe off this armor than you did when you first encountered it. Hmm. It's definitely magical, more than I originally thought. Can you tell me? This is different. So is it-- is he, like, with the armor or with you now? I don't know. Could I tell what school? [SIGH] If you were speaking out loud around Donovan, that silence would probably come to-- and then Kirkland would start-- start talking to Donovan.

I-- I prayed to a monitor every night that this armor kept me safe. I blessed it with everything I had, and perhaps that had something to do with it. I'm honestly quite pleased that this armor can continue to serve in the name of a monitor with someone so steadfast and courageous as yourself. I-- I am humbled to be in your service. Well, Kirkland, we're going to be best friends. In fact, you're going to love the next place we're going. Can you believe that a whole city just-- everyone vanished there, and apparently there's demons crawling all over? The hells, you say?

The hells. Did we know about the demon part? No, did we? All right, maybe I know about undead. I knew about something supernatural. I thought maybe we just-- Something terrible. I had-- I was just filling in gaps. I would have said-- I would have said the thing that I knew. Yes. So undead, demons, same difference to a cleric, right? Something bad? Who knows? I was expecting him just to be, like, being exaggerating, like, this is what I think is going to be there. [LAUGHTER] Well, then, good sir, there's not a moment to lose. I know. Oh, sorry. Aubrey's got a big temple to monitor, right?

Maybe they can figure more out what's happening with all that. Aster's definitely kind of amused by this. It's interesting, but it's a bit like, oh, there's a talking church ghost in my head. That's kind of funny. [LAUGHTER] I never asked for this. Daan's just kind of like, just taking this so ironically, and he's just like, all right, I guess we're going now. I'm a paladin. Let's go. [LAUGHTER] That's how it works. One day you put on the wrong pants and bam, paladin. [LAUGHTER] Oh, golly. The wagon driver here is going to start frantically kind of, mm, mm, like wiggling.

Oh, I'll hold him by force and sit him by force on the wagon's front seat. And then I'll have a nice conversation with him as we go. His eyes are screaming, by the way. Did you un-gag him? I will once we take off. OK. Have we checked on the dragon horn? Do me a favor. Someone run a medicine check on them. I'll do it. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] Oh, beautiful. So I would-- we're talking like cold rags to the head, and you're just trying to give them water whenever you can and stuff like that. Just make sure they're as comfortable as possible. About 10 minutes before you guys set off, this wagon driver's losing his shit.

Like, just like probably you'd notice it from the moment you woke up till everything's packed up and you guys are leaving. He's just mm, mm, mm. These dragonborn are going to start to wake up. And they are going to start frantically-- as soon as they figure out that their appendages are not bound, they are going to start frantically clawing at both their muzzles and just trying to get to their feet and out of this cart. What would the reaction be to the party? We didn't take the muzzles off. No, we did. You did? I think we took everything off, yeah. Yeah.

OK. So then scratch that, but they will be trying to exit this cart and kind of checking you out, because you are not the people who incarcerated them, but they have been unconscious for lengthy periods of time and they have no idea who you are. Do they see the driver like, bound and kept? Yeah, I would say it takes them a few minutes, but they will see that. And they're kind of in a stance where it's like, it's fight or flight. Like, they could do either one. Like, they're getting ready to take off. Amven has some water, a skin, I don't know what we carry in the area.

And basically, it holds out some water for them, but doesn't approach to scare them or choose which one. But they can hang out and decide if they want to take the water or not. So they're getting a really good look at them. You can tell that there's a male and a female. And the male is going to reach out and slowly take this flask. And this is after they can both see that the wagon driver is tied up. So wheels are starting to turn. And they're going to reach out. And he's going to take this flask. He's going to sniff at it a bit. Is this drugged? No, just water.

And the two dragonborn are going to kind of side-eye each other. And they're each going to take a swig from this. Much appreciated. You're welcome. We saw you were in Quine of Bind, so we decided to help. At the Quine of Bind thing, do you think that's funny? Your situation was not funny. But it was a play of words. But we acted when there was a wrong. We are from Winterhaven, and we are here to ensure that our safe travel, that people, the unjust, are taken care of. And we can make sure that there's the greater good, as I think back to Malchus. We're on the road from Winterhaven to Aubrey, by the way.

I don't know where they picked you up, so just making sure you know where you are. They're going to look at each other again. And the female's going to speak up. We were in the wilds near Brightport. While all this is going on, Maddy puts her pack on the ground and is like digging through it. And then she's going to stand up and like hold out her crossbow. But towards them so they could take it. And a bag of her, like half her rations. At this point, like, okay. I think he would probably gingerly reach out for these things. Like, thank you. Dragonborn don't take charity easily.

And they're also very much, they're basically naked with no armor, no weapons, no nothing. So they're in a spot where they're just like, oh, wow, okay. She is going to start circling the cart, heading toward the front of it. And as Maddy hands this over, she's like, you shouldn't be unable to defend yourself. And here's food too. I don't know what you want to do. You could continue traveling with us. But if not, this should help. The male is going to speak up again. My name is Tarsk. That is Zorial. We are... in your debt. No, you're not. May I ask what day it is?

Jason, what day is it? It's the eighth. Of Farior? Yep. Well, ninth now. Sorry, ninth. Wait, the last date I have written down is the sixth. I have the eighth in there. Yeah, you guys traveled. Okay, so which one is it now? It's the ninth. It's the ninth of Farior. We have been unconscious for much of the journey. I thank you. And there's going to be a slight head nod. Um, who's near the front of the cart? I am. Do me a favor, roll Perception. Here we go. Zorial is going to climb the front of the cart as this former wagon driver is losing his shit. And she is going to open her mall.

I'm gonna sort of like embrace the priest with one hand and kind of like go, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this one we keep." Um, you're going to tell that she is, she was like a second, like a split second. She was going to ignite this man's head. I bet. Why? Because he's got some splanning to do. We need to know if there's more, if they're going to do it again, all that kind of stuff. We, uh, this is, uh, this isn't our first rodeo with these kind of people. We just need the information they have. She's going to glare at this man for a while. Hmm. Very well.

I can guarantee though he's going to get what's coming to him. Excellent then. And, uh, she's going to give a bit of a head nod, but it's almost in a, um, find them we're even sort of way. Like, just kind of, uh, it's, Dragonborn have a weird sense of both morality and ego. So it's like, well, I don't want to be in anyone's debt anyway. So that's your one, like that's the, that's kind of how she's treating it. Uh, Tarsk is going to speak up. We should be on our way. If we are free to go. Bit of a question mark at the end of that statement. Yeah, unless you want to ride, uh, it's all yours.

I mean, freedom is. You could go wherever you want, but we are heading to Aubrey and there are resources there. You could get outfitted and weapons. We need to discuss our next destination. We cannot return home now. And they're going to be looking at each other like, what the hell is the plan? Like, I don't, I don't exactly know. So, unless someone stops them, they would probably beat you guys ado. And, and you know that they've thanked you and they're probably going to move on. In my head, I don't know if I should, I'm like, as we just recruited the other people to go to Winter Haven.

I was going to say that too. But I was like, wait, if they run into the same guards, that was keeping them captive in their boat. Right. Great point that you just thought in your head right now. Yeah. That could turn ugly. That's where like, everyone's like, good luck. Nice. I guess you guys are, oh, sorry, go ahead. Before you go, can I, can I ask you something? Yes. How did Puffy up there, how did he catch you? He did not. We were assaulted by a band of 15. In Brightport? Outside of Brightport. The forest near there is notoriously infested with his kind. Mattie's going to take in like a sharp inhalation and go Bandit's Rest.

Indeed. Well, she's going to pull the crossbow bolts out of her bag because she forgot to hand those over. They might need those. Hand those over. I wish you luck and light on your journey. We are grateful. May I ask one more question? Are you eventually heading toward that forest? We're going through the Divide, but I don't think we'll make it to Bandit's Rest. But we're heading in that direction. If you ever find yourself in that region, burn it down. Donovan's going to nod like, will do. The voice inside Donovan's head. I don't know if we can make that promise.

Everyone deserves a fair trial. I was just being polite. Ah, of course. Spare their feelings. And with a head nod, they are going to walk away. Are you continuing with your journey? Yeah. Let's get to Pompry. Yeah. Civilization. The rest of the day is going to go off without a hitch. It is beautiful. Still springtime. It's pretty cool. Great. Great walking weather. Unless anything needs to be discussed. I want to strike a quick conversation with the guy. I don't want to delay our destination too much, but I want to take off the gag and ask him a few questions now.

Oh, okay. While you're driving or at camp? Yeah, while we're driving. Okay. Sweet. So, yeah. Just like, tearing off the duct tape on his mouth. And he's going to let that thing flex your jaw, just like, ahh. Alright, so something that puzzled me was that you weren't Nuval, but I wanted to give you an out man, but are you a slaver or nah? Do you have any idea what you've done? Alright, give me your pitch. I was contracted by a very important person in Brightport. Alright, who was it? And he's gonna look around like, I shouldn't even speak their name. I don't know, do you want to keep your head?

Whether you kill me, or the people in Albury kill me, it doesn't matter. Once word gets back to Brightport, I'm a dead man anyway. Huh. One of these, huh? Alright, so what do they want with them? Again, looking around. Almost like it's like this person could be floating around, man. I was supposed to bring them to Ebony Harbor, and then via ship, they would make their way to Brightport. I was supposed to meet them at the docks at a very specific time. No sooner. The ship and its crew were supposed to be delivered to this person. And after that, they were going to go on their merry way, and I would pretend like I never met them.

So crossing the whole continent was just for cover? They have their reasons. I was given very specific instructions. How loudly are... Enough for everyone. I would imagine, there's no reason to keep the secret now. Okay, so Astra's probably going to roll up more towards the front of the cart, and when they're mentioning Brightport, they're paying more attention. They're not going to say anything right now, but just waiting to see where things go. Being from Brightport, is there any way I could get an idea of who someone this dangerous and important could be?

Oh, sure. Well, okay. There's... You know what? Give me a wisdom check with advantage. Okay. That's a 12. That's a 12. So I would say that narrows down your list of suspects, right? Like, here's the thing. There are dangerous people in Brightport, and then there are the type of dangerous people that when you're several, several, several miles away, you're still scared of, right? That narrows down the list quite a bit. So obviously the first in the list, number one with the bullet, would be the Black Hand. She has earned a pretty terrible reputation in Brightport.

Big tentacles that stretch out pretty damn far. There are also... The ship thing leads Donovan to believe that it could be a couple of other people. And if you're bringing in the ship thing, it might be pirates. And there is someone named Haley the Pegsgalari. A very cutthroat Goliath who has been making her way through the docks in Brightport and pretty much scaring or offering people deals that they just can't refuse for one reason or another. Either it's tons of money or they're going to die if they don't side with her. So over the last probably five or six years, she's earned quite the rep there.

So it could also be her. All right, so I guess we've got more on our hands than just a new vol if we want to take all of the slavers. And he's going to kind of like side-eye, not side-eye, just like glance at Maddie really quick for a fraction of a second. Does Donovan say that he thinks he might know? No, he's just thinking about it. Because probably you could make the same assumptions because you were there, right? I mean, yeah, but Astor hasn't been in Brightport as recently. Okay, true. So if he doesn't say anything, they're going to get the cart driver's attention, kind of like give him a grin that's like, "Yeah, I know you.

Remember me?" Yeah, so if you're a dead man either way, then I really would appreciate it if you just told us who it was. I mean, hey, at least someone, if they're going to be killing you, then we might be in the neighborhood for killing them for unrelated reasons. Hey, vengeance doesn't hurt. I'll make a deal with you. Let me go outside of Aubrey. Give me a head start and I'll give you all the information I have. If it's a race you want to run, we've been down that road, my friend. He would narrow his eyes. There's grinning. Now the thing is, if you make it back there or if they catch you, I don't want our names to be, you know, I don't want our descriptions, what we look like, where we're going to be known to someone this dangerous.

So you'll understand that I don't want really, I don't really want you to go. Yeah, yeah, we're not letting you go. That's not in the picture, but I mean... Can erupt in jazz Aubrey? Yeah. Like, he's just like, uh, like, he's kind of hoping it's like, well, maybe, like, you know, he would probably go silent after that. As the cart sort of bounces around. Astor will kind of like glance over the Donovan then just, you've been in Brightport far more recently than I have, I assume. Any ideas? Well, I mean, it could be, it could be the legendary Blackhand if they're real at all, or even maybe Hailey the peglegs colliery.

You've probably heard of her. Her, you said, Jason? Mm-hmm. Okay, probably heard of her. Does he react at all? Give me an insight check. Okay, plus two. If he did react, I don't think Astor picked it up. No. So continuing to camp? Yeah. Alright, you are one day. One day outside of Aubrey. You're almost there. It's amazing. Okay, does anyone want to do anything this evening in camp before we pick things up the next day and move forward? Mattie will probably approach Donovan. We didn't have a chance to have a talk. I guess you're right. You know what? I think it's time we start your training.

He's gonna stand up and start walking off from the campsite and say, "Take your mace out." Mattie's gonna look puzzled, but take her mace out. And I guess follow? He's gonna bring his shield forward and say, "Come at me with everything you've got." He's gonna take the dodge action, so you have disadvantage. Confused as hell, but gonna attack, I guess. Just roll it. I rolled twice. I didn't do disadvantage. My bad. So 15. Alright, he's 20. So he's just gonna take the hit. It just clangs. Look, you've got your reasons. You don't have to apologize. And you probably don't even have to say it.

I saw you kill that man in cold blood at the orc encampment. You've got your thing going on, and I don't blame you for that at all. And I'm not angry at you. I had time to cool off. I lost a lot of blood the other day. But now I'm good. Attack me again. Maddie will nod, and then I guess they'll keep training? They'll keep doing that back and forth. But Maddie will give a grateful nod. I got a bit more. And then she'll attack him again. Disadvantage, I guess? Do you still have dodge? I'm training you. Oh, one. She super fails. She killed herself. Jason, I didn't kill myself, did I?

Do you want to know what would have happened? I kind of do, but it's not gonna really happen, is it? Ah, up to you. Maddie would fall down. Okay. I think that would happen. Okay, cool. Donovan's really pushing you, though. Okay. Alright, get back up. And she'll get back up. And she'll get back up. She's taking this seriously. Look, Maddie, I thought you were in the military, okay? That's why I was so frazzled. I never strike first, alright? And if I had any rule, that's the one rule that got broke that day. And so I overreacted, alright? But you're unhinged? More than Masoka?

That's something I would have expected from him or Ubo. But again, I trust that in the future, you'll be better prepared for that. Yes. I'll try my best. I know you said I didn't have to say it, but I am sorry. I think what really got to me is that we didn't know at all what the hell was going on. In that moment, Pretty Boy said, "Is there someone in there?" You struck. I think that's what I had a problem with. Now, thankfully, he turned out to be right, but you know how rare that is? Listen, there's something I gotta tell you about him. He's a goddamn psychopath, okay?

He's a danger to himself and others. But, uh... The problem is he barely realizes that his actions, just like the actions of yesterday, endanger people around him. So that's why I... I mean, I love the man to death, alright? I'll die for him, but... I wanna stick around him as far as long as I can just because I don't want him to hurt others or himself. But he's changed lately. He's grown. He's been traveling. He's never changed as much as he did since we joined this group. And I think it's good that he has someone else that I can count on to be at Misoka's side.

To have his back. That I can stop treating him like a child. Who's running around with scissors. You have someone to go crazy instead of him? I mean... I was gonna get a very serious look after saying that. If I had known this was something... If this was a trigger for me, I would've let you know. I didn't know. Again, don't worry about it anymore. There's one last thing I wanna tell you about Misoka though. Just before we go back with the others. Don't let anything you hear about him affect how you... Think about him. What you feel for him. Some day or another, everyone's stories come out and I just want you to know that he's very good at heart.

Alright? I like to think I judge people upon their actions. Not what other people say about them. But I will keep that in mind. Now I'm just gonna smile and point towards the camp with his head again. Okay. Maddie will follow. Thanks for the lesson. There will be more. I look forward to it, Captain. She'll salute you. Mockingly, but still salute you. It'll be even harder next time. Alright. Does anyone have anything they'd like to do before we move forward in time? Evan would just say to Maddie, you excited to see everyone? Yeah, I wanna... Wonder how much it's changed in just the eight months I've been away.

You must be... I don't even know how you must feel. I hope Clariss is there. I think... We don't have to stay very long in Opry if we don't have to. But it'll also be good to rest up before our journey. Yes. And then... That was all Evan wanted to say. Alright. It is the tenth of Fariaor. You are one day off. Fariaor. You are one day outside of Aubrey. A little cloudy today. But definitely probably aids the journey. It's nice. The sun's not in your eyes. That type of thing. Maddie does do yoga this morning. She didn't do it last morning. Almost with renewed purpose.

Gotcha. The day is going to sort of melt away. You know, couple hours on the road, taking a break, couple hours on the road, taking a break, that type of thing. You got your hour lunch. You keep moving. And... Before you know it, it's gonna be mid-afternoon. And a band of travelers is coming from the opposite direction as you. These guys seem to be decked out. Dressed to the nines. Big, heavy plate armor. And the closer you get to them... This is really decorated stuff. This stuff looks like it was custom-commissioned. That type of thing. Their pauldrons are essentially...

They look like the tops of dragon's head, but done in metal. So it looks like it's kind of biting down on their arms. That type of thing. These guys are really like... They're looking to make a statement with their formal wear here. And they're gonna sort of roll down the road here and... Unless you reach out to stop them or something like that, they would give you the sort of traveler's nod. That type of thing. "I don't mean you any harm. You don't mean us any harm. Good day." That type of thing. And sort of ride along. You know that just before we pass them, Donovan's gonna mumble under his breath like, "Should we check if they're slavers?" Wow.

Evan is distracted and ignores their passing. I think that Soka noticed how, you know, their armor and all that. He would stand up and wrap some of old Claudius around himself and stand there all proud. Just like bits of the pelt? Or like... Like some of the heads over his shoulder and some of the pelt wrapped around him. "Is a good look at this." So most of these people look like they're... They kind of range between human, half-elf, that type of thing. The standard array. But there's a big-ass dragonborn kind of plunked down in the middle of them riding toward the rear.

And he's going to look at Masoka and just sort of narrow his eyes and kind of huff. Just going, "Huh." And they're gonna continue riding, but they definitely noticed you. Mission accomplished. And unless you guys have anything else you'd like to do, I don't see any reason why you would not reach the lovely town of Aubrey by evening. Congratulations. Welcome to Aubrey. It only took how many episodes? I was like, "No, we're not doing this again." We have a much better track record than another group. I have to say, you guys gotta cross the divide. Wait. Wait till that.

We're the best as you can tell. What would be the first thing... Again, this is evening. So we're talking like, I'd say like 10, 11 o'clock, somewhere in there. So most of the shops and stuff are shut down. There are a couple of different inns in town open. What would be the first thing you guys would want to do? I got notes. I can tell you all about the inns, guys. I want to go into the room that Actaronis was. I'm gonna put all my money in the power boards. In the red scales? You kept a stash there? I have a stash. What day is it on the calendar again now? It is late in the 10th.

Thank you. No problem. Well, if it's late, I think we should be headed for the inn. Everyone stays at the Silver Flag Inn, so I would suggest maybe the Eternal Sombre. It's run by those vampires I was telling you about. Why, yes, please. I could introduce you to Jonathan and Selena. Ubo narrows his eyes. Yeah. What? I... I told you. There's vampires living in town. It's okay. They're accepted. They drink only animal blood or blood given to them. They're fine. They're just living their lives. This town is strange. I will sleep in the woods. There's always a temple too.

I would rather be further from the vampires. Come on Ubo. This is my home. Let me... Let me show you my home. And you see that actually asking him that kind of conflicts him. He kind of tilts his head to one side. I can stay at your church to sleep? Of course. Of course. Fine. Compromise! I love it! Never happens. The rest of you heading over to the Eternal Sombre Inn. Yes, please. A bit of dark vampire humor. Yeah, I know. I was gonna sleep a bit on the nose there, but... There's an interesting history with this town and vampires. If you... If you walk into this place, it is a...

What do we do with the slaver? I assume you took him with you. We should find some guards or something. Oh, guards wouldn't be hard to find at all. I guess we should do that. I guess find Alexander? That's her name? Alexandra would... I mean, there are other guards in town, but... Yeah, there's a time- Or we could see if your vampire friends want to break the fast. Time was, she used to stand out front of town, usually with people approaching from the west. The town has not been attacked by vampires for years now. So that's not really her practice, mostly. You can find her in town, though.

And if you're handing these people off... Or you're handing this guy off... We could totally do that. And if she spotted Maddie, she would definitely give Maddie a hug. Oh, for sure. Which is kind of rare for Alexandra. She's not... She's not... incredible about opening up. She's sort of used to being on guard. Bum-bum-bum-bum-bum. Sorry, she is a guard. But she would absolutely welcome you, kind of light up with a smile. And Maddie would do that hug where you pat their back like, "Oh, yeah." Right. "I didn't know you were in town." "Yeah, we're passing through to Donners.

So good to see you." And she'd look to the rest of the party, kind of absentmindedly. "You as well." And then get to the guy who's tied up. And her jaw would tighten just a little bit. "This man was in town a few days ago. Briefly. But he was in town. Who is he?" "We found him transferring slaves. I'm just gonna get, like, tense." Yeah. So something that Maddie would know about Alex is that she does not appreciate slave traders. In Aubrey in general, that's pretty frowned upon. They're pretty by-the-books, law and order type people. She would grab him by the back of his neck and kind of pull him in.

You don't have to say another word. I'll... I'll take him in. And there's gonna be a beat of silence. What about the, um, cargo? They were set free. They went their own way. Excellent. Okay. So... At least that was set right. Well, I'll take him in. Are you staying in town? Yeah. At least for the day. And then she looks at the group. I don't know how long, but... Yeah. At least for tonight. Yeah. If you want to come and hang out with us at the Eternal Slumber. Hi, I'm Donovan, fellow paladin of the Monitor. Maddie's gonna tilt her head and look at Donovan. Like, "What?" Pleasure to meet you.

And she would... she would shake hands. Where did you train? I don't recognize you from town. I've had a, um, nomadic training. No, tell us, Donovan. It's a rousing story. Well, it would be very long, but as you can recognize, this armor has been bestowed upon me from the great Kirkland Sumner. So in the morning, I'll be glad to tell you a bunch of stories. Alex is going to... Okay, Alex is... when she hears the name, she's gonna be a bit dumbfounded, like, awestruck. I can't wait to hear them. Actually, I will be heading back to the temple later. I'll tell them all about it.

I'm sure they would... adore hearing those stories. Great. Then I'll see you tomorrow. She's gonna squeeze this guy's neck, the back of it, just like, let's go, asshole, that type of... that type of, like, motion. Is he gagged or not? Uh... Probably, like, I imagine. Yeah. Okay, so probably just... just getting pushed and shoved around that noise. So to the inn? Yep. Yep. Maddie will show him where it's at. So this inn is a little bit smaller than the Silver Flagon. Silver Flagon's tavern/inn. You can get meals there. There are rooms to rent, all that good stuff.

And the Eternal Slumber Inn is a little more quaint in comparison. But there are kind of warm lights as you head in. A little on the dim side, but there are lanterns lit. And if you walk in, there is a man behind the counter who would greet you. And you'd notice that the place is a little on the empty side. But the man behind the counter... "Good evening, everyone. My name is Jonathan. Is there anything I can do for you this evening?" Hi, Jonathan, it's Maddie. And he kind of drops his customer service, like facade, you know, the counter speak. "Maddie, it is excellent to see you." How's it going?

Where's Selena? Oh, sorry. These are my friends. This is Masoka, Donovan, Ubo, Aster. He would go right down the line. Ubo's here too? Probably not. I could take it back. Ubo will not go into the vampire inn. No, that's no dice. That's fair. Baby steps? Yeah, they're looking for a place to stay tonight. And he would kind of light up. Were there no rooms at the Flagon? I don't know. I recommended this place first. Yeah, I wanted to check it out. He would smile really big. Jonathan, could we get one of your fine bottles of wine if you happen to have one for this group of exhausted adventurers?

Did I mention heroes? The smile would not fade throughout all of that. Of course, I can get you a bottle right away. Selena's cleaning one of the rooms. We just had someone check out, actually. I'll tell you what. The first night, everyone stays here free. The wine will cost you, though. And he's kind of smiling about that. You got it. Are his fangs showing? No. But you will remark that he is on the pale side. Looks to be half-elf. Longer hair. Well kept, though. Kind of tied back. Handsome. Don't look bad. How many rooms would you like? Well, I'll be staying at the temple.

Donovan, Astor, Masocha? Yeah, just one in the room. And he's gonna kind of cock his head like, "Oh, that won't do." I can at the very least get you two. Alright, let's roll those dice. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your rooms right away. It was lovely to see you again, Maddie. Me too, Jonathan. I have a friend waiting outside, so I'll be heading off. It was really good to see you. Tell Selena I said hi. I absolutely will. If the rest of you will follow me. You will notice if you shook his hand and you're not wearing gloves, very cold to the touch. Which is a little... it can be unsettling to some people.

It's fine I'm wearing gloves. I think Masocha would be fascinated. He's never seen a vampire. Fascinated to himself or like gawking? He's definitely staring at him. He's probably used to that, so I don't think it would be... He has questions, but he doesn't know if he should ask them. Is this racist? Should I... Jonathan, tell me, do you drink? And I mean, obviously alcohol. Big smile kind of comes across? How do you mean? Do you think the... do you drink the wine? I haven't had any in quite a while. It makes my stomach upset. Aww, that's a harsh life you've had.

I get by. Well, if you just want to come hang out, I'm sure we'll just cool down and debrief and just be chatting for a while. You're welcome to join. Well, thank you very much. I do have to watch the front desk though. The rest of you have a fantastic evening, and if you need anything, you can find myself or Selena at the front desk. All night. Literally all night long. Yeah, that's what we're putting to go. He would probably say we are a full service in. You can get room service any time of the evening. All right. To the rooms. This place is actually very warmly decorated inside.

Paintings on the walls and the accoutrement that would make you kind of feel like, wow, I am so glad we are off the road. Wow. Do you guys want to do anything at the end or you guys just want to get some sleep for the evening? Yeah, probably just sleep and just kind of pass out. Yeah. I mean, it's been a long few days on the road. How about we get you guys a long rest? Nice. I'd like to do something. Oh, never mind. Could I go see if the library is open? If you were to check, it would be closed by now. Yeah, if it was. Bring the midnight candle, you know. Break in.

You could break in. And study. You can do anything in this game. It's true. He'll go back. He'll just check in to see if it was unlocked. Yeah, the town's pretty quiet this time. Aubrey's one of those towns like, um, you ever take a road trip or live in a town like this where everything just kind of closes at nine or ten? That type of thing. Where everything's just kind of like, ah, we'll be open in the morning. We're closed on weekends. Go away. He was just curious about something, but he wasn't actually going to read anything. Right. And he won't participate in the wine.

He'll actually just go to bed straight out. Masocha, do you want to participate in the wine? Aster? You know I do. Aster, are you sleeping already? I thought, wait, so I thought we had multiple rooms. I thought we had only the two. Yeah, but are we all in the same one, or? Well, whoever's staying up can go into the same one. Yeah, basically, are you guys hanging out and decompressing for a little bit before we get in the hay? Oh, okay, okay, gotcha. That Dragon Con Saturday Night feel. Yeah, exactly. Just before Aster goes to bed, Donovan would probably tell them, like, while touring himself or anyone else a glass, "You know, that's the right thing you wanted to do back there." Like, I didn't disagree with you.

I just, I used to be in that line of work and I lost a lot of good drinking buddies to that profession for stupid, stupid reasons. And I don't know, I guess I just saw some people I knew in them and I guess I wanted to save them and be your hero, so I guess I'm just like the rest of you. I just want to do the right thing. Yeah, they'll kind of like relax a bit and lean against a wall or something. Yeah, I mean, honestly, I think that was the right move. I'm not used to trusting my own morality when it comes to that sort of thing. Yeah, well, as long as we don't turn every stone to see if there's a problem we can fix in the future, I'm sure we can keep doing this for a while.

We're pretty good at it. That was pretty fishy from the get-go, but whoever those fancy dragon people we passed by, I mean, I don't want to deal with any of that. Yeah, no, let's just say that. If we had to tussle with them, that probably would have gone differently. Yeah, that's for the best. You've done good out there. Your aim just keeps getting better. You did good too with the whole refusing to die. That was pretty great. I got health. Yeah, it's team. We're actually pretty good. It's nice. Yeah, I think I'm going to keep calling us heroes from then on.

Sounds good. They kind of shake their head at you. Guys, guys, where were his fangs? Did you touch his hand? It was so cold. He's a vampire. Do you think if he bit me, I would become a vampire too? I think you would, man. That's how that works, right? Yeah. Pretty cool. I'm bummed out he didn't come and join us though. I have to find Selena. Maybe she's in on the party. I mean, they probably deal with a lot of prejudice and whatnot. I imagine them being a bit wary, but with your charm, maybe you can wear them down. Alright, well, let's get some rest first and then see if I can get the old charm running.

Yeah, rest on an actual bed. And I kiss Masoka goodnight. Goodnight, Donnie. Goodnight, Lucky. I didn't want to butt in when you were speaking with your friends. I realize that you've probably had a difficult journey, but... How do I put this? Things might have changed a little in the century or so that I've been away, but... In my time, we didn't call ourselves heroes. It seemed a bit gauche. Also, I didn't realize that members of a monitor were imbibing in alcohol so frequently or flagrantly. Is this a rare occurrence? As you say, things have changed a bit, and the holy wine has been part of my ritual in preparing for the return of the sun in the morning.

It might be a little bit unorthodox, but it has been working for me so far, and I thank a monitor every day that I can take alcohol so well. So this was some sort of sacramental wine. It was blessed. Yes, of course. Didn't you not see me bless it? You might still be waking up slowly. It's been a long hundred years for you. Perhaps I might have missed that. I apologize. I... Oh, Don. ...did not mean to assume. I've embarrassed myself. I should let you get some sleep. Thank you. I should not eavesdrop on conversations. Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be doing plenty of that in the future, so better get used to it now.

And then silence. Alexa, stop. Guys, I think that's a good time for us to stop this evening, only because I have a feeling we're going to be doing a lot of shit in Aubrey. Yeah. So welcome to Aubrey. Yay! Poor Kirkland. He's gonna have fun. I'm going... This is a teen summer movie. I'm gonna teach him how to have fun and loosen up. We really hope you guys enjoyed today's show. All throughout the month of September we're going to be posting tons of content from Dragon Con. We're actually recording this before Dragon Con, so I can't give you a big detailed breakdown of what we've recorded, but I know that there's going to be tons of video footage.

We're going to try and record the live session from every conceivable angle and get it in the main feed. Plus there will be video feed for Patreon and just tons and tons of stuff. All the panels that we record are going to be available to patrons at patreon.com/dandr. So check that out and I'm sure by the time you hear this we'll have posted something on Twitter and Facebook to give you guys an idea of what we're recording. Also, if you can give us a five-star review on iTunes, that helps us exponentially. We really, really appreciate it. And if you'd like to send us an email and let us know how we're doing, or if you have any comments or concerns, send it to dandrpodcast@gmail.com.

That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com, and we will see you next week with a brand new episode.