Paying the Toll

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

[clattering] [clattering] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. It's your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+.

This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else. Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. Ark 2, episode 52 of the D&R Podcast is brought to you today by you lovely folks on Patreon at patreon.com/dandr. You guys are the reason we are allowed to do this as our profession and we always thank you for your support.

Swing by our Patreon to find out how you can help support the show and all the extra content you get in return. 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 Ryan. Oh, I'm first. Hey, this is Ryan. I play Varys Alder, the newly promoted paid intern. And Jasper. This is Jasper. I play Maric, a red human cleric. And Brie. Hi, this is Brianna Marie. I play Clara Urath Dale, the drow fighter. Or half-drow, whatever. Whatever I am. I don't know. Who am I? It's not important.

You tell us. I don't know. Is it meat or cheese? Just tell us. [laughter] And Zach. What's up, my name is Zach and I play Avalon Bates, the human fighter. And Lisa. Hey, I'm Lisa and I play Elorath Beesinger, the halfling of a barbarian. Do you know what the biggest fuck you is? Uh-huh. We were talking about it and you were like, "I might not post this behind the scenes because there's a bunch of secrets in it." Yep. So some people don't know what the fuck you were just talking about. Well, that's, uh, that adds to the mystery. We got to leave them wanting more, is the thing.

That's fair. That's fair. Anyway. Now's when you plug the Discord. Yes. You know, you can see if we posted that Patreon by going to patreon.com/dandr. And... Behind the scenes is that one dollar. Yeah. A dollar? I don't even get that. It's a five. Five dollars? Five dollars? That's a whole foot long. No, inflation destroyed that. Footlongs are more than five dollars now. And six dollars a foot long? Yeah. Doesn't have the same ring. It's also not a foot long. It was all a lie. Yeah. They measured them. They were like nine and a half inches or something. And pedophiles. That too.

He was also- nope. Well, now you just lost our pedophile base. Oh, that was- Wow, okay. I'm gonna mute myself. You go ahead and introduce the audience to the show. Guys! We're short one Jane. It is very weird, but Effney left the group at the end of our last session. And that kind of leaves you guys in a bit of a conundrum here. Tessie and Greta left Brightport to head down to Onakol, and that leaves you guys in house Dragonkeep in Brightport. How would you guys like to kick things off here? I would imagine we can pick things up on the 26th of Faerieor. That would be the morning after you guys had a stellar meal, like a big Thanksgiving type of feast.

And you have rested from the road, you're all clean, and you're like soft beds, all that good stuff. The luxuries of, you know, these are luxuries to the adventurer, right? So, how would you guys like to kick things off here? Varus is gonna actually get up pretty early and start doing some meditative stuff. Like what? Pretty much like Tai Chi. Just kind of very slow, kind of doing stretches and forms. More so, it's a new day. He ate probably more than he ever has last night. And so he's gonna wake up early and just get going on a good start. Okay. So I'm picturing the scene in Remember the Titans where the kid from California is outside doing his like Tai Chi type moves and all the girls are like swooning.

It's like, oh, he's so cultured. Yeah, pretty much like that, but inside. So he doesn't want to go outside for a specific reason. Because he pretty much just ran from home. So he doesn't want to be seen. So he's gonna be inside. Did Varus think he'd get a little further from running away? Yes. Okay. What about everybody else? Quickly, similarly meditative. Merrick will have gotten up very early to create French toast for everybody. Also, if Varus is gonna do Tai Chi, then Merrick's gonna make chai tea for everybody. How do you like that one? Nice. There you go.

Done. That's it. That's it. That's it for a tat, if you will. Boom. Clara's gonna wake up when she smells delicious bacon. Same thing. Yeah, same. Clara and Elorath are both food motivated people. Oh my god. I get to say a thing I haven't said in years. Jasper! Do we get to? It's House Dragonkeep. You are in Brightport. Please roll for bacon on a scale of 1 to 10. I got this. I got this. Give me a flat D10. Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright. Hang on, hang on, hang on. Here we go. Don't ruin this, Jasper. I'm not gonna do this. Deep breaths, deep breaths. It's okay.

Don't psych yourself out. Wait, wait, wait. Cannon purposes here. Does Merrick, for any reason, which I think is established, get any advantage or bonuses for rolling for any sort of food preparation? You know what? He's a restaurant owner for it. He is. I would say since you're out of town, though, what I want to see is what style of ingredients. So like, okay, 10. You got fresh butchers bacon. It's thick but not too thick. Brown sugar, a little brown sugar. Yeah, yeah. In a skillet and everything. One, it's Canadian bacon. Take that, Xavier. Sorry, Canada. Wow.

It's Canadian bacon with corn syrup on it. Canadian not just ham, right? If that. If that. Okay. Okay, but hang on. Any. Okay. I'll tell you what. You give me a plus two. I just feel. A plus two? Give me a plus two to that flat pizza. Yes. You roll 12 for bacon. Oh my God. Yeah. Nine. Oh shit. There we go. Okay. So yeah, you got that. You get that fresh butchers bacon. It's not doing the thing where it's curling up too bad. So it's cooking evenly in a nice iron skillet. That was a nine by the way, everybody. It was a nine. This isn't damn flying bacon. I'm really pleased. Let's just spend another half hour talking about food.

This is spider bacon though, right? Yes. This is spanking. And we're done. All right. Bye guys. Bacon. Bacon. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. So there's bacon, there's going to be French toast. It's going to be. That's it. I mean, we don't need much more than that. There's going to be some fresh squeezed orange juice or juice of some sort, whatever Therian version of orange there is. Spider juice or whatever. Would you stop? That's it though. It's going to be that simple. Spore. Orange juice. Fresh squeezed spiders. As I will say, as Clara is going down to the kitchen, like they smell bacon, they wake up again, very food motivated.

She probably stopped by Avalon's door because I would imagine that Avalon is used to sleeping next to Efanny and he might need help getting up or something. So she just like knock on the door to check on him. He's definitely not up yet or like out of his room. When you knock on the door, Avalon takes him a bit. You just hear rustling. Then someone at the door. Then he slowly creaks open. He just, his eye is out and you can see he hasn't really slept and his hair is unkempt. It's like if you had, like out of game, it kind of looks like someone who fell back off the wagon in a sense.

Like he's starting to grow like facial hair again. Like it's coming in and yeah, he just looks kind of haggard like he hasn't slept and he's going to just kind of like crack open the door a bit. Clara will just kind of like give him a small smile and be like, "Hey buddy, food." And she's going to point over her shoulder. "Hello. I am hungry. I will be out soon. I promise." She's clearly a little bit worried. Like she's kind of doing that thing where she's like, but she doesn't exactly know what to do and then she'll nod and go, "You might want to comb your hair, sweetheart." Oh, yeah.

Kind of looks up like he kind of forgot it was there. He says, "Okay." And he like recluses back into the room. Clara will look over to Elorath and just like big frown, but then I shrug and we'll head down to the kitchen because she's sure he'll meet them there. Like, he's okay. Elorath will probably return your look, but she's also like, her face is reading like half tired and half sad. So it is very puffy. But you can't tell really from which because she is sad. She's like, "Ugh." Okay, so when we get there she's actually probably just going to see if there's any like already pre-made and just start making like a little plate.

If she can, like if she can steal some just kind of on the slide. Not for herself. She wants to take it up to Applin. I just want to put that up there. I assumed. Okay. So if there's any like pre-made she'll probably just grab like a couple slices of French toast and some bacon. And she'll just kind of like walk back up to like, Avalanche room and kind of like knock on his door a little bit. And I don't know if the answers are not. As soon as you knock on the door he like the door opens itself he's coming out. He's dressed normally. His hair doesn't really look that much better at all.

But he does come out and now he's kind of like in your face. Like, just not like in your face. He's just opening. He's at the door. He sees your plate and he says, "Is this for me?" "I didn't know if you wanted to eat here or down there. So I thought I would help. Because I know I'm a little sad. I figured you might be a little sad too. And sometimes when I'm sad I like to eat alone, which is probably not good. But..." And she'll hold the food up and be like, "I brought food." She'll be kind of looking at him but not directly. Because I think if she looks right in his face she will start crying.

Evelyn having a really not strong sense of emotion, he'll say, "I appreciate what you've done for me. But I think she wouldn't want me like this. Separating myself. Let's go back together." Okay. So she'll probably bring the plate back and turn and as they're walking she might give them a side hug. I know that her head probably comes to about hip height. So she'll just be like, "Wow." So it has to be the side hug or I'll teach you to face full-o's. Face full-avel-and dick. Right there. Anyways. So yeah, just like a side hug. She'll be like, "I think you're right there." "Now you want some of this bacon because I'm going to eat it if you don't." For some reason that bacon smells absolutely delicious.

I know. A few slices. Yeah. Miracle C, it's a 9 out of 10. Actually, while Alarath and Aveline are upstairs, Clara would probably approach Merrick, who I imagine is still probably cooking and stuff. And she's just wearing her night clothes, which is her normal clothes but without her armor on and her shirt's untucked. And it comes down pretty far. Like, clearly too big for her. And that's just how she sleeps. But she'd probably give him kind of a meaningful look and go, "Aveline's not taking Ethany's lead very well." "I think she did more for him than we thought." Merrick's gonna...

I imagine he's got a little cloth in his hand. He's probably wiping something down and wiping his hands off. He's just gonna close his eyes and sigh. Now, of course. I mean, listen, this isn't easy. You know? Kalluuna's gone, right? And I'm feeling, as little as I knew, Ethany, I really cared. So I can't imagine what Aveline's feeling. But then again, I kind of can. We gotta be careful with him. We gotta make sure that he knows that, number one, that he's loved. And number two, that life is bigger than just that loss. So I'm with you. That's why I'm making the bacon.

It's a good 9 out of 10 bacon, I think. Yeah, Merrick will be... Yeah, it's like a 9 out of 10. Clara will nod and kind of heave a big sigh. I feel like everything's just floating around. No one's sticking, and we don't have a purpose here. You know, I always thought a group like this would feel more... And then she'll just throw her hands up. I was a soldier back home, and everyone felt like they belonged together, I guess. And I feel like we don't yet. Do you know what I mean? Merrick will just be nodding. He's gonna look around at the kitchen, and he's gonna say, "You know, when I met all of you, I was in a kitchen, and I wanted to get out.

And now look at me. I can't help myself." But yeah, I mean, at the same time, we've gone on a lot of... Well, look, we've had disease, we've had eladrin, we've had secession, we've had assassins, we've had radic. Sorry about that assassin thing. Yeah, well, you know, there are people to blame, but I'm not sure it's you. But honestly, it has been exciting. But you're right, we need bearings. I mean, at this point, we've given Tessia what she needed, and Merrick's gonna sort of point around again at the kitchen and the whole place. And we've got this amazing house.

This isn't where we live. This is just temporary. I feel like we need to keep moving, or we're gonna get too comfortable. What about that new kid? What's up with him? The intern? Sure. It's a term that no one in theory knows but Merrick. The intern. Yeah, no, of course. We're picking people up, we're dropping them off. I feel like I barely even knew Efthony, and now she's gone. Same with Kaluna. I don't like that feeling. Okay. Alright, you and me right now. Merrick's going to reach out his hand like a handshake, but it's gonna be like the high five version of a handshake.

I'm not going anywhere. We're sticking together. Clara's gonna meet his eyes and give a very purposeful nod and then give him the handshake back. I imagine it's the predator handshake. They're both muscled as fuck and just slap. And then she'll pull him in for that half-hug thing that guys do to prove they're not gay. Right, totally. He's gonna say, "Okay, there's the core. We've got two. Now let's get everybody else on board, and we're not gonna have this anymore." And you know what? The intern? Just as important as everybody else in here. We should learn his name.

The intern. And that was in Clara does laugh. Yeah, Merrick doesn't laugh. Merrick actually is saying what? Intern. Oh, has a name name. Oh, like a name. Sure, sure, sure. And that sounds good. No, but you're right. Too many people are coming and going and it hurts. But we gotta... we can't be aimless. And we can't stay here. And we can't get massages. And we can't stay in comfy houses if this is the kind of life we want to be able to have. Right? Right. Let's go fuck some shit up. And Merrick's gonna throw down the rag and he's gonna walk out of whatever kitchen and go to whatever the table is where everybody is sitting.

Clara's gonna turn off the oven. Yeah. Safety first, but yeah. And I'd say as you guys are leaving the room and walking out, that voice in Merrick's head is going to chime in for the first time in a while. "Aw, that was really nice." Okay. Clara looks back. "Huh? What did you say about me punk?" Merrick's going to stop and he's gonna have this very... he's almost gonna have a smile on his face like, "Ho ho ho ho ho ho." He's gonna say, "Give me a second." And he's gonna just turn right back around and go to the kitchen. He's gonna go over to the stove, which has been turned off.

Thank you. And he's going to turn it back on. He's gonna go like whatever that, you know, the gas stove like... Well, I don't think they have gas stoves in... It's in my mind. It's the version of... Fine. That's fine. It's probably more like a wood stove, something like that. Whatever he needs to do. Fire in up the stove. Fire in up the stove, right? He's gonna go straight back over to it. He's gonna get a pan that's already been used. So it's kind of warm, probably. He's gonna put it directly over a flame. He's going to wait for a couple of seconds. And he's going to put his hand over the pan.

Just like a few inches. He's gonna say, "Okay, what do you want?" It's almost like he's threatening. Right. It's stupid. It might be completely idiotic. But he's just saying, "Okay, come on." I'm not sure what you mean. If you're part of me, I know you can feel this. So what do you want? Oh. Well, firstly, I wasn't being sarcastic. I thought that was really sweet. It's important to stick together. Why are you here? Why won't you go away? Both good questions. I'm here because you picked me up. Secondly, you are gonna need me. I don't know if you know it or not, but your life is a mess.

Oh, I know it. I'm very aware that my life is a fucking mess. The last thing I need is something talking and he's gonna actually hit himself on the head. Right. He's gonna lock it himself. You're in here. Last thing I need is something else making a mess. So, see you later. There's no need to be so agitated. I'm here to help, Merrick. What could you possibly do for me? Well, that all depends. But we could start small. I could be a real good friend to you. But I get it. Trust. It's a virtue. I gotta earn that. Like, number one, I don't trust anything. Number two, it doesn't help that every fucking thing you say sounds sarcastic.

Every time, I'd say there are kind of lengthy pauses. Like, it's almost like a phone with a bad connection type of thing. I really apologize for that. It's probably a tone of voice thing. I could change it if you want to, but I assure you I have been nothing but sincere since I started speaking with you. Here's a question. Merrick would have a sense of this being from the figurine, right? Oh, yeah. I don't think it would take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Yeah. I mean, he's not like, "What? What is this all about?" It'd be like, "For real, this is really a thing, and it's this goddamn figurine that I fucking picked up." So, he's probably kicking himself about that.

Right. He's just gonna calm it all down. He's gonna put the pan away and just take his hand away from the pan. He's just trying to be threatening. There's nothing he can do to get this thing out of his head. So, he's feeling a little bit trapped. Okay, listen. I don't know where you came from. I don't know what your name is. You have a name? I do. Thank you for asking. It's common courtesy, but it's lost on a lot of people. The name's Barrick. Ah, Barrick. I'm Merrick. Nice to meet you. Why? Why me? Well, it's not as though I get to be too selective. Did you know that you're the first person to fiddle with that statue in centuries now?

And what, so you just hang out for centuries, waiting for somebody to find you? Is that it? Hang out is not the term I would use. I've been trapped. Okay. Barrick? Barrick. What can I do for you? And what can I get you to do to leave me alone? Please know that I want only good things for you. Sincerely. I don't want to interfere in your life. I'm not here to take over your body. Nothing like that. Ultimately, what I would like is my freedom. But again, we could start small. I could do you little favors. You could do me little favors. And I'll be quiet. I'll only talk to you if it's extremely important.

Or if you need me. Number one, why would I need you when I was just fine without you? Were you though? I feel like we're getting off on the wrong foot here, Merrick. In the last week, you've been in a big bloody fight. You almost died. I could have helped you then. You lost a friend in your party. And if memory serves, weren't they the one who kept you alive in the first place? Have you given any thought to what would happen if you were in another encounter that got that bad on the road? Or what could have happened to the rest of your friends if your little furry problem got out of hand?

You know what? I think about that pretty much every minute of every day. And it's something I've lived with for a really long time. And I have not lived with you for very long. So here's my question. First of all, I don't like feeling like I'm invaded. I didn't ask for you to be here. I don't know how to get rid of you. Not yet. But let's just say we're stuck with each other for a little bit. What can you do for me? That is an excellent question. For one, depending on how much you want to help me out, I might be able to get rid of that little problem of yours.

The lycanthropy. We're talking permanently here, Merrick. Merrick's going to definitely have a reaction of, wait, for real? Like it's going to be a little bit more of a slap in the face of, like, stop posturing now. And this actually could be something interesting. Again, I only want good things for you. You are the first person I've spoken to in a very long time. It's honestly been nice to catch up with another person. So thank you. My pleasure. He's going to wince after he says that. I'm not here to ruin your life. That being said, you can imagine how confining it is to be dropped off in the middle of a desert, stuck in a statue.

You mentioned feeling trapped. Imagine how I feel. Okay, that's fair. I have a lot of questions, but I also have some friends. Absolutely. I'm here whenever. You go take care of your friends. And if there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask. What do you need from me? Well, again, that all depends on how far you'd like to take this. Ultimately, I would like to be free away from this statue and to have a physical body again. Not yours, if that's what you're thinking. Okay, yeah, that was kind of the first thing I was thinking. Okay, that's fair.

I figured. Not that there's anything wrong with your body. Maric's going to blush. I'm just kidding. Maric's going to sort of catch up with himself, realize how long he's been sitting there just talking to himself. Fine. Fine, we'll talk. And then he's just going to try to push it down like as though it just did not exist and that he was just having a dream. Like he's just going to push it down. He's going to walk right back out as though he was doing something in the kitchen that had nothing to do with anything. Okay. Should Clara run like some sort of insight check on him when he gets back?

Like she probably wouldn't if he's normal. Like, should he do a bluff check? Would that make more sense? He's just playing it off like he was taking care of stuff in the kitchen that he maybe didn't turn off something or want to clean up something or whatever, but not like he didn't like run in and help your hand over a over a flame and then talk to yourself. Presumably, if nobody could see him, if people could see him, then he would not have done that. I would say earlier in the conversation if he would have ended it more abruptly and went out, yes.

But I feel like he left the situation more calmly than he entered it. That's fair. Okay. Just checking. Yeah. Let's eat some bacon. Did Adelaine and Elorath make it downstairs? Is Varus back inside? All that stuff? Yeah, I think Varus would have joined up. Yeah, I feel like we would have made it down there by now. Elorath is just like sitting on the stairwell, just like, "Hey, let's shove this food in our mouth before they get there." We're just at the top waiting. Like we're just introduced like with a clapping track. We wait at the stairs. I want like a butler to announce my name like, "Uh, no.

Elorath? Like, hello." Is that a drum roll? Yes. Theme song plays, you know, the usual. Just for color of this as well, if there's like a table where all like there's plates and everybody can like pick up their plate and grab whatever they want to. Merrick will have inadvertently put one extra plate. Oh. And we'll, as soon as he realizes that there's an extra plate that isn't being touched, he'd probably try to put it all, grab that and like whatever. Just kind of get it out of the way. Are we like in an open area? How confined is this space? I would say it's like a dining room setting, right?

So it's a big house, so it's probably a fairly large dining room, big table, that kind of thing. I always, in my mind, I always felt like there's the big open room whenever you first get there that is like the sitting room where Tessia always like greets people. And then there's a hallway that goes towards the kitchen and in between that there's like a big dining room. You have to walk through the dining room to get to the kitchen. So would this be a fairly quiet morning with everybody of, you know, the big, big important meeting conversation yesterday and then the leaving of a party member.

And then, so I just pictured like the whole table is just kind of quiet and just kind of looking at each other. I almost, almost imagine it the opposite where it's like everyone gathers their food and like there's a little bit of small talk while they're sitting down and like buffet style. So once everyone's sitting down, I'm not sure if it would be Clara or Merrick who kind of like begins the discussion but like Clara would want to start talking to the group. Or Merrick could, whichever. Clara, Clara, Clara. Okay. Tag, you're it. Okay. So, as soon as everyone's like sitting down they all have their food and everything.

Clara is probably going to like stab a bit of sausage with her fork and then kind of gesture it towards Ferris. All right. What do you do? Then she's gonna pop in her mouth. Oh, what do you mean? Why are you here? Sorey will wipe my mouth full soon. Like she's not. Oh, basically I need to get out of town. Happy to help any way I can. I've heard a lot of good stories, and bad ones, but I've heard a lot of stories about adventuring groups, and I figured it would be a good way to go see the world. Can you fight? Oh yeah, I was raised to defend myself in a way that most people don't nowadays.

And it kind of looks like he's questioning that. What do you mean by that? So, I don't know if you guys have ever been to any other continents or anything, but my mother before she passed, she was a martial artist, and ever since I remember she's been training me. What's martial arts? Oh, um, you know how most people fight with like a sword or an axe? Or a flail? Yeah, I don't. Like I use a spear or something, but most of the time I use my hands and feet. Cool. Shove bacon in her mouth. Okay. Watch you punch things in the face. Yeah, yeah. All the time. It's one of my favorite things.

Does that not hurt your own hands? Sounds quite painful after a while. All these things we face out here wear armor made of stone. Can your fist handle that? Yeah, I mean it hurt a little bit growing up, but yeah, for now it's fine. And I guess he would kind of look around and is it all like wood inside? Is it, I guess, rich enough to be all like stone and everything? I mean it's a lot of wood. It's a big manor house, so are you going to punch your walls? Yeah, I mean he would just go punch your wall. Just kind of prove it doesn't hurt. Merrick will want to stop that from happening if there's any way he can try to acrobatic his way in the middle of it.

Well, it was only if it was like solid stone or something that was there he would kind of look over. But he's just going to look around and see that there's nothing really to punch. So he's just going to look over, not say anything, but facial expression of, "Are there any more questions?" So yeah, hip things, is that your thing? Yeah, yeah. Punching and kicking. You don't want to do that here anymore? Yeah, and he's going to kind of look down and just kind of sigh for a second and look back up. My mother passed a couple years back and my father's always had a fear of leaving the city.

But ever since my mother died, that fear's got worse. And now he doesn't even want me going out of portions of the town. But I'm old enough to take care of myself. I've done it before. I mean, I know how to pick locks and run. I'm really fast and I can defend myself. Wait, wait, wait. Clara's going to hold her hand out. How old are you? I don't remember how old I put him. He's going to look over and be like, "I'm 19." Clara's going to kind of cast Merrick a look. A concerned look. Like, are we kidnapping? Yeah, Merrick's going to give a look back. He's going to be like, "Ehh." Evelyn's going to shrug.

He's going to say, "You know, that's about when I left, at the time, Overwatch." "I was about 19, 20. You could do it, but you had to be smart. Are you smart?" And he's going to start nodding his head. "Yeah, that's why I tried to find a group." "I know if I go out there on my own, I'm not going to make it very far." Did you tell your father you were looking for a group? In a note. Let's just say that he's the type that if I tried to talk to him about this, he wouldn't let me go. Tell me. Tell me right now. I'm your dad. What did you say in the note? Say it to my face.

I have to go live my life. I can't do it bundled up in a town. And he's going to take a second. Before mom passed, she was an adventurer, and she told me stories all of her life. And I need that. I can't just sit in a house working at a dock for the rest of my life. And he's going to look back up and meet Maric's eyes. Maric is going to stare at him very gruffly, as though he were playing the dad for a few seconds. And then he's going to look over at Clara. He's going to kind of do the shrug. He's going to be like, "I don't know. Maybe." Clara's going to look a little uncertain, but then give a little nod.

Just look. If you're in this, you're in it. We can't bring you back. Do you get that? Absolutely. I only have one ask. That when we are back in town, I can take 30 minutes just to go talk to my father. Why don't you take that now? It's too soon. You want to come back with something? Yes. I want to be able to prove to him after some time that I can come back and I can do this. I don't want to start to reroute and come back here, but when we get the chance and we are back here, I just need 30 minutes. In the meanwhile, everyone in this group needs to trust you and you need to trust all of us.

Lately, we've lost a few people. Not dead, but you saw last night and one of our other friends left recently too. We need to all be in this together. And she's going to kind of go around the table, meeting everyone's eyes. He'll give a couple quick nods and then looking at her in the eye. I'm in this for the long haul. Well, before we get started too quickly, let's make sure we're all on the same page. Do we all have the same goals? If we can't work together, then more people will just leave, find something more important. What are your goals? And she's looking at Aveline.

Aveline looks down like he doesn't know what to say. And after a beat, he just says, kind of exasperated. Clara, I thought I knew. I thought I did. I thought I was doing things right. Sometimes I just feel like I don't know what the right direction is. I want to help, but I feel like I just don't do enough. Clara is going to reach across the table and hold up her hand to take his gesture for like, give me your hand. I'm not sure if he'd get it. And then she's going to look him in the eye. You are doing well. I promise. You've protected us and you fought for us.

That's what we need. I don't know where we're going next. I don't know where we're going to go after that. But whatever we do, we all need to be in it together. We just need to look out for each other. I am with you. He does stick his hand out and he gives you a strong look of conviction. And he says, I for one, don't feel like I should go anywhere. One of the last things he told me was that this was the right thing to do. Just us being together. And I think as long as we just stick with each other, we'll figure something out. And that's all I got. I think that's enough.

And Clara is going to give his hand like a big squeeze and then kind of like shake it all off. But we also need a healer because we will die. That's true, and we should also discuss how we should fight from now on. I think things are gonna be a lot different. So you look at Merrick when he says that. Yeah. Merrick's gonna be like "I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know." Stand further back, I got it. I'm sorry. Merrick basically forgets at this point he's a cleric at Vinnie's work. I mean, as far as he's concerned he's a chef with a weapon. He multi-classed in chef.

Yeah. Ablenn's thinking kind of differently because like in his mind when he fought he was more defensive because he was looking out for members like Ethney, but now that she's gone and we're more of a fighter type party he might go more aggressive or something like something might change. So he's quite confused. Could be fun. Hmm. Clara will bring up the werewolf thing to Merrick later. Like they should probably tell Varys, but she's not gonna out him. That's rude. So like... All right, and Clara's gonna sit back. Deep breath. Merrick, we have a note from Tessia.

Yeah. And he's gonna kind of look around at the house. I know nobody here knows Tessia. You barely even know where you are right now, but she and this place have been really really good to me and to a lot of people. So... Sure, we kind of did our task. We brought the letter. We... We're safe. But um... Yeah, we've got a task. Tessia, who was at least, if nothing else, kind enough to let us have the run of the place for a little bit, she asked us to go to give this to somebody. So okay, we got a task at hand. I think... If it's okay with everybody else, I think we've got a direction.

I still think that we might want to look for a healer while we're here or something. I don't... Aveline, how did you pick up Varys? Well, when I was with Ethene, he bumped into us on the street and said he wanted to join us. Last time someone did that I was robbed. So I asked Ethene if it was okay. She said yes. Of course it looked a little floor. Just like, really? That easy? Okay. Hmm. Maybe... Maybe we put up fliers? I don't... We all kind of just fell into each other, but I really don't feel comfortable leaving the city without someone who can take care of us.

No offense, Merrick. I can feed you, at least. Merrick's gonna... Merrick's gonna just hang on a second and he's gonna go try to find David. Oh, yeah. That's what I was gonna suggest. Oh, that's smart. Yeah, he wouldn't be far. He'd be floating around. He knows he doesn't need to cook for you. So that's kind of one less thing to weigh down. And he's really appreciative that everyone is over the age of 19 now. Oh, yeah. Good. You got rid of the annoying dream owner. True. Yep. Hey, David. First of all, haven't asked you if you wanted any breakfast, but there's plenty for you if you're interested.

Second, thank you for having us all stay. Really appreciate your generosity. This is a weird time for everybody and definitely for you. I know things aren't great here and I hope she's gonna stay safe. Number three, we're not gonna stick around. Obviously, this isn't our home and we've got stuff to take care of. And honestly, we're gonna head up to Aldemar and get this note that Tessie gave off to the right people. But honestly, we've had a tough time of it lately. Is there anything that the house maybe could lend us? Some potions, some healing, just something to keep us a little safe?

Honestly, we've had a rough time on the roads. Anything you could do, we would just be grateful. I'd say even partway through the "is there anything you do?" just kind of hold up a hand. Just kind of, "Of course, of course. I can put together a care package for you." It's really no problem at all. Well, you put a care package together for us. I'm going to put a care package together for you. He's gonna smile at that just because you're...Marek's always been a good guest in that he's always very quick to cook and clean up and stuff like that, not take advantage, I guess.

And that's something you can't say for everyone because they've had their problems recently. Damn straight. Yeah. And after the smile, thank you very much. This has obviously been a very trying time for everyone. I'll see what I can arrange for you. I just want to make sure she's safe, David. And we'll do whatever we can. Whatever I can do. Even if I'm not here, find me if you need me. Basically, at that point, he's just going to go back to the table. He's going to sit down and he's going to look up at Clara. He's just going to give a thumbs up. Like, "Got it taken care of.

We're good to go." Sweet. After sitting down too, he's going to turn to Varis and he's going to say, "Okay, listen. If you're serious, you've got one thing that you have to do or you're not invited. Anytime..." Go ahead, sorry. No, he was just going to be like, "Okay, yeah, sure." And Merrick is going to look at everybody as he says this. Basically, he's trying to get buy-in. Like, everybody's got to be on board with this. He says, "Listen, you're 19. As far as I can tell, you deserve to get out of here. And you don't deserve to have anybody keep you from the world.

But that said, it's not his fault. And it doesn't sound like, and correct me if I'm wrong, your dad's been awful to you. He's not hurting you." Yeah, you're right. If that's the case, then the one thing that you have to do anytime we're ever in a place that's big enough that you can send a message back to your dad without a return address, that's fine. But you got to let him know that you're okay. It'd be different if we needed to protect you from this person. It's not that. You're doing your own thing and nobody's going to fault you for that. Just let him know you're okay.

Okay, that's the deal. Deal? Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to hold it to you, or whatever. Is that the right way to say it? No. I'm going to hold it against you. I'm going to hold it right next to you. Kidding. I'm going to hold you. I'm going to hold you to that. I'm going to hold you to that. And he'll start shaking his, or nodding his head several times. I got one question. Are you all your dad has? Is he going to be okay with you going? Like he doesn't depend on you? You don't help him live? I just help him out with things around the house. Just kind of everyday chore things.

Just general pick up. All the jobs that I did were all for my own money. He never needed any of mine. But I am really the only thing that he has left. But I think I have to do this now. No, I think you're right. I really agree with Merrick. And she's going to point at you when she says it. Because if you're all he's got, then he's all you got. Then you got to got each other. Merrick's going to hold up his hand for like a high five. She'll lean across the table and do it. And then on the way back, swipe some more bacon. Varys is going to smile at that and kind of like glance down probably like towards his plate and then look back up.

Yeah, you're you're exactly right. But I'm hoping to expand what I got. And he's going to kind of look at everybody's eyes. Well, welcome. Okay, we're all in. Is that true? We're all in. Merrick's going to look at everybody one by one. Are we all in? I'm in. I'm in. Yes. Absolutely. Right. Grab some bacon. We're packing up. So, David would come back to you with a house dragon keep for the road care package, which would consist of five blankets, two handheld fans that you can use because it's getting warm out there on the road. A couple of hats that he was able to find like big floppy hats in case you're stuck driving, you don't want to get like, you know, any sunburn.

Three potions of greater healing. And he kind of stuffed this curiosity in the in this care package too. There's a glider made of dragon wings. It's kind of folded up. It's kind of like rolled up and stuff, but it's kind of like, yeah, it's like, I mean, it'll come in. It's just been collecting dust. Maybe you guys will need it or something. So he's got a color dragon wings. These were red. Okay, good. These were red. Because it's really common. So it wasn't like a full sized dragon or anything. He's not stuffing like, you know, this this this 35 foot, you know, but like it looks fairly large, like if it were to unfurl.

So he's going to have all of this put in your carriage. Your horses have been taken care of and given new saddles and tack and stuff like that for the carriage and all that stuff. It's it's been... Think of it like taking your car to the mechanic and giving a checkup before you're going on a long road trip. And there's no need to write any of this down because I have it in a parcel on the table for you guys. Oh, thank you. Of course. You're the best. Yay. It sounds like you guys might be taking off. I think so. Yeah, I think we need to get up and go. All right.

When you get up and go, it's gone. Then left. A hanker for a hunk of cheese. Or meat. Or meat. Jason, is that another commercial that I shouldn't know? You absolutely shouldn't know it. OK, I should. All right, good. No. Well, OK. Did you watch ABC cartoons in the late 80s? I was not alive in the late 80s. So no, you shouldn't know that. I don't know why you do. I don't either. Anyway, let's just move on. OK. Can't get enough of that sugar cream sugar. You're 80. Let's get ready. Oh, my God. OK, you know what I need? I need, I need Varus. It's a roll of flat D20. You can do it for the first time.

All right. Don't fuck it up. Eleven. Solidly mediocre. Let's get ready. All right. You are taking off in the afternoon of the 26th Affair. You have a saddle up on your carriage here. There's a couple of horses pulling it. They have been brushed down and they are looking, they're looking spiffy. And it is a smooth journey out of the city as you head south to. Well, actually, this is up to you. I never asked this, but I really should. I always just sort of assume people are following the main roads, but you guys can forge your own trail if you want. Main roads, main roads, main roads.

Wow. Yeah, no, no offroading. Offroading leads to dead bodies and sickness. It's ridiculous. And kobolds. And moles. But also sometimes mammoths. I was about to say the occasional mammoth. And sometimes hookers, which is nice. But like. What about a mammoth hooker? Well, a mammoth hooker. How you doing, big boy? That's an assumption. Takes big dick to a new meaning. I'm just picturing Snuffleupagus. Oh, that's some big dick energy right there. Yeah. Like we all wouldn't fuck Snuffleupagus. I mean, come on. Come on. Hi bird. Looking for a good time? Oh, it's a hooker that only you can see.

It's the hooker of the mind. Oh, that's my life. Oh, man. We were making all those furry jokes earlier. You know, it's funny is trying to explain to my fiance what I do for a living because she only hears random phrases through the walls. Hey, big boy. And then elephant sound is one that I'll have to explain later. Just use it. Like, don't explain it. Just go. Yeah, just yeah. Just that's that's pillow talk later. No context needed or given. We'll never have sex again. Excellent. Will you have sex all the time? Oh, I feel like that would be more upsetting. Yeah, I don't know what I feel good about.

That was a joke. Is this really am I tied into this now? Oh, this is life? Did we find it? Is this what you? OK. Who wants to be a millionaire answer that I never wanted? Is this? Now we got some good Patreon content. There you go. So here's here's the option for you guys. You're going to be on the road for for a little bit if you choose to head south and then at the fork in the road head north to Aldmore. You're probably going to be on the road for almost two and a half, three days till you could start heading north and then another two and a half days to get to Aldmore.

Or you can forge your own trail off the main path. OK. Now, I just. Hey, hey, hey. My job is to give you all of your options, sir. Would you like to die tonight? Yeah. Or. That's fair. We can take our time. And again, I'm not trying to convince you. It's. Oh my God, stop talking about it. OK. All right. So you guys are going to travel until until evening here. So it is the 27th of your. And again, unless anybody wants to do anything, I'm just going to keep on rolling here. Roll. No. OK. Into. Oh, OK. OK. Twenty seven. Very your. You guys are going to approach a small bridge.

Now, these bridges are pretty common, usually when there is a creek or river or something like that, or just a bad patch of land. This one happens to be a a fairly wide creek. So the ground dips and there's like a little little trench with water running through it. There's going to be a cadre of folks kind of hanging out by the bridge. I'd say this bridge is about twenty five feet across. They are going to hold up their hands as you approach. So there are four individuals hanging out near this bridge. A couple of ladies, a couple of men. And they're all dressed in, for the most part, kind of a kind of a leathery armor type of thing.

They they look like they're road folks. Looks like they're looks like they've been living on the road for a while, kind of gruff beard. Not the ladies, but they don't look that you know how you're on the road. You could tell the difference between city folk and road folk. And I would imagine as adventurers, you guys have probably been getting pretty good at this by now. So there is a person with a hood not covering their face, but just kind of up. And I would say by this point, it is about noonish. Right. Noonish on the twenty seventh. And this person's going to walk forward in front of the bridge, hold up their hand.

All right. All right. Slow it down. Let's let's quickly get some who's driving, who's where. Oh, excellent question. Who would they be hailing? Varys would probably be in the back or shotgun. Those are two very different places. Yeah. Yeah. They are everywhere. That's like somebody. Clara would be somewhere on the cart. I would be in the back or next to the driver. So all right. Put it this way. I kind of want to say that Elorath would be driving. Just because I want this to happen. If Elorath is driving, then Clara would be next door. OK. If that's the case, then he would be in the back.

If the spot was available, he would be up there. OK. To be honest, she's always wanted to drive the cart. Elorath driving, Clara's next. Everybody else is sort of like snoozing or just hanging out. Hanging out in the back. Chilling like villains. Yeah, I would imagine any stop to the cart. It would be one of two things, right? It would either be like, oh, there's some bumps in the road coming up or we're taking a break or something. Like there's a reason to stop someone is stopping us or, you know, there's an obstacle, something like that. So he would hold his hand up and kind of get you guys to stop.

Now, there's there's a couple of people flanking him on either side in the back and one person across the bridge on the other side. These people are holding crossbows. Now, to clarify, that's not insanely uncommon, right? There are, you know, people hold weapons sometimes. They're not pointing them at the crew. They're not pointing them at you guys. But it's definitely a reason to be wary. So he would approach the car if you were to stop that. I guess that's the second question. Are you stopping or just kind of plowing through? I feel like Elrath would probably take her cue from Clara and at least slow down a little.

Also, just to clarify, did it really soon. Clara's wearing her mask and gloves and hood and all that shit, which she does whenever she's out in the sun. But just clarifying. Nice. I'm proud of you. But yeah, she would probably like give them a nod and a little wave, but probably not even say anything to them. Just wait for them to talk. Because clearly they got something going on here. She probably like I think she probably expects what it is already. Because, you know, they're staying in front of a bridge. I feel like even in Theria. Oh, the classics are classics for a reason.

Exactly. That's right. Yep. Here we go. So he would approach the cart as it slows and almost put his hand on the side of it. It's more of a familiarity, like, you know, hey, how are you folks doing? That type of thing. If you ever pull your car over to the side of the road or something like that and someone just kind of like leans in on your window and shit, if you've ever had something like that happen, it's kind of something similar. And he is going to address Ella-Reth specifically, probably because she's driving. How you doing on this lovely afternoon?

Fine. She's looking so done. She's like, no, just fine. And I think he expected more of an answer. The best would be like, well, how are you doing? That type of thing. And just that was not it. She does not care. She's like, you asshole. And if you're cutting him a look, he's going to kind of hold. He would he would hold a hand up to his chest like he's hurt. Oh, I hate to see such a sour face and such a lovely young lass. Oh, that's really close to why don't you smile for us, sweetie? Yeah, that is the Therian version. She will scowl even harder. No. If you say that, she'll just be like, she'll grunt at him like, "Mmh." What's up?

Well, I won't be taking too much of your time. We will have to collect a toll from you, though. It's your tax dollars at work. No. Hey, Jason. Yes? How official do these people look? Well, it's OK. Just to clarify. OK, enough. I swear to God. Next one of those, you're getting a crossbow bolt. One of these guys is going to have a misfire and... Why is it even loaded? OK. I was cleaning it. It went off. You will see. Here's the thing. You will see that from time to time. Most of the time it's bullshit, but you will see it from time to time. And it's not like those guys have badges or something like that, but they usually will either have some sort of paperwork or they'll say something.

That at least sounds official. OK. Is there like a roll or something? I mean, we can do it. Yeah. OK, let's try that. Oh, it's just a flat D20. Why not? Fuck it. I know nothing. That's a nine. I would say... Am I allowed to also roll because I am in the front seat? Sure. Yeah, OK, cool. I only got a plus one. I'm trained in it and I have a plus one. That's a five. Right. I would say Ellorath has been traveling long enough. Ellorath's been on the road for years. Yes. This is like... probably not, but there's enough doubt there. OK. You said there's four of them? Are there four of them on this side and then two on the other side or is there just two on this side and two on the other?

There are three on this side, one on the other side. Oh, OK. I think Ellorath could probably challenge him. She'd be like, OK, you got any paperwork? Because I'm not giving you anything if you can't prove it. She just looks done. Well, that is an awfully antagonistic way to treat me. I'm not asking for anything huge, by the way, this is just to keep up things like this bridge. And he's going to he's going to point back at the bridge. You know, upkeep on things like this does cost some gold. OK, but like you still didn't answer my question. So no. Clara, Clara's going to hold up her hand.

Please do. Let's not. Like, fuck it. Kind of like she suspects the same thing you do, obviously, especially because you're so obviously suspecting it. But fuck it. Like kind of. Right. How much do you want? And immediately he is going to stop paying attention to Ellorath so much and start paying attention to Clara. Well, firstly, thank you for being reasonable. And he is going to call over one of his associates. And this person is going to start to inspect the cart. And how many people are on the cart? And then the associate is going to whisper in this person's ear.

The person speaking to you, by the way, is human. And it looks like his associate is tiefling. All right. Now, my associates tallied everything up the approximate way to the cart. 15 gold for the lot of you. You could be on your way. Clara will look him like look him in the eye for a minute and then go, I'll give you 10 and I won't report you to the authorities when we reach Aldmoor. Do me a favor, roll a persuasion check. Persuasion. Oh, flat T20. Oh, nice. Haha. That's an 18. By the way, Jasper, I offered 10 because then I'd have an even number. Oh no, totally cool.

It makes me feel good. I'm mad at them. That's all. I'm just in Clara's head. What she's thinking is, well, at least they're not like bandits. Like it's shitty, but at least they're not attacking. They're pretty much bandits. They're pretty much bandits. But like they're bandits who give you a fucking chance versus someone who's going to set up a trap and kill people and take their money from their dead bodies. Excellent point, my friend. It's also 10 gold. That's a lot. You're going to see where he's kind of mulling this over. And he's going to say, I'll tell you what, if you let me get a gander at that pretty face of yours, I think 10 gold would be just fine.

It just went down. No, Clara's going to take off the she'll unhook it and let it fall down. Take out 10 for toss it at him and she'll toss it at him. He has a chance to catch it and then nod to Efanny to keep moving. I'm sorry to Elarath to keep moving. I miss her. She'll start up like immediately, but just be like silently fuming. And she's like going to make dead eye contact with like anybody who's around the cart. Don't you fucking do it. Give me a reason, motherfucker. I wish she was tall enough to kick that other one on the other side, too, by the way.

She would. Clara's tried so hard to be diplomatic. That's true. First of all, let's see if he catches this. He does. He snaps it out of the air, too. He looks all cool. With his off hands, not even his real hands. One hand doesn't even leave his pocket. So he is going to snatch that out of the air and give Clara a wink. And as you were as you were picking up speed again and riding, he's going to kind of signal to everybody to kind of get out of your way. And he's going to holler to Clara. You know, you should ride with that down more often. I love the exotic fare.

Kind of hinting that it's like, oh, drow, that type of thing. Clara's already putting the mask back on. Right. She'll let me punch him when I have the chance. No point. I know. So let me just deduct 10 gold from Clara. Alarath will probably give her five and all just to be like, OK, I know what you did and I appreciate it, but he still pissed me off. So here's five. Here's the thing. Now my gold is an even number, so that'll show him. If you want to buy more meat. Orchis? Orchis? Orchis. You pick, really. Amy's going to really like hearing in this episode. So. The rest of the 27th is going to be a pretty lackluster fare beyond.

I mean, depending on your depending on your opinion, getting robbed, you guys will just kind of ride out the rest of the day and everything's going to be fine. It is now the evening of the 27th of Faerieure. Is there anything you guys would like to do? It's probably a pretty uneventful day, I'd say. In general, yeah. Well, you know what time it is? Game time. Adventure time. It's time for Lisa to roll a d20 and see how the next couple of days of this journey is going to go. I feel so attacked right now. No. You're being given an opportunity to shine. Yeah, I'm going to shine.

You know what? I believe in you, d20. I believe in you. Positive vibes go. Yeah. Not terrible. Lucky number 13. That used to be my number one. I played sports for one year. Hey. Because I'm not a sports person. I love the clarification of one year. I like the clarification of sports. When I play general sports. Technically baseball, but I couldn't really play it because I was a girl. Then they tried to make me play softball and I was like, "No, fuck you. I'm going to play baseball with my brother." So they're like, "Fine, but just stick her in the outfield." So that's that.

That's what they did for me because I was terrible at baseball. They were like, "Just go in the far outfield where no one does anything. Go pick some grass or draw a house on the dirt and we'll be playing the game over here." It's hurtful. I was stuck in the outfield too. Same. Like left field too. Yes. Nothing will ever come to you. Yeah. Who would have thought a bunch of D&D nerds couldn't play sports ball? It's crazy. I never played baseball, but I played other sports. I'm sorry. Me too. And you're going golfing this weekend. Exactly. And you know martial arts and shit.

Honestly, you don't belong here. Wow. Get out. No, it's fine. Look, in general, I follow people's Facebooks and Twitters. Zach and Ryan are the two coolest people who have ever been in the show. To be honest, Ryan was an affirmative action hire. We needed one sports person on the show. Zach and his girlfriend look like fucking supermodels. Seriously. Insulting. Oh, shucks. Anywho, lucky number 13. So. I feel lucky. You should. The 28th affair, you're you guys are going to keep writing. And I would say at a certain point in the day. I would like every single person in the party to do me a favor and roll perception.

Oh, good stuff. Uh huh. Well, we cracked double digits. Good. Uh huh. Crushed it. Yeah. All right, Mary, you got it. Sorry, I had to go grab something real quick. What do I need to do? You need to precept better than the rest of us. Oh, I got it. No problem. Thank you. Well, you were better than the rest of us. That's true. Avalon, Merrick, you're going to hear a familiar noise. Sort of a high pitched whale, sort of a screech, and it's going to strike out like thunder rolling across the sky. And it's it's it's so vague in its direction that I would say you would probably have to kind of crane your heads, look around, keep your, you know, kind of keep on a swivel.

But eventually you're going to spot it in the far distance. And I would say that this is this is around dusk-ish. It's later in the day. You're going to spot a very large black dragon in the sky. And it seems to be moving in a quickened pace to the north east. Really? Really. Very interesting. But nowhere is just this is very in the distance. There's no sort of threat or anything, right? Oh, not to you. No. What is in that direction? Well, lots of stuff. Lockhart, Donhurst, oh wait, north east, Yumenyero, right? Yeah, Yumenyero. Wow. Wow. You leave supper alone. I still don't know how they fit so many earls into their car.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize I said Yumenyero. You're fine. It was adorable. Don't let her bully you. I'm embarrassed I am. Well, I mean, golly, Brightport's in that direction, Drake Island's in that direction. I mean, eventually, Yumenyero might be in that direction if it curled inward a little bit. OK. This is probably a dumb question. Sure. Is Drake Island literally an island full of like dragons and Drakes and stuff? It sure is, among other things. Cool. Cool as shit. Never mind, that's not a dumb question. I'm glad I asked. Yeah, but that's totally not a dumb question.

Dude named Drake. Yep. Just one guy. Just dropping hit after hit. Hey, what's up, dude? Occasionally shows up as Jimmy from Degrassi in a wheelchair. Sure. I still only see him. Thank you. OK, good, me too. But he hasn't changed. Like, his face is the exact same. No. Well, anyway. See, he was shot in a school shooting. Yeah. So he ended up in a wheelchair. Mm hmm. All I know is he started from the bottom. Yeah, he's here. I was here. The bottom was him in a wheelchair. It was. God, we're white. Can't talk to you, Jason, anymore. That's fair. Come back, sports friend. I need to be cool by association.

That's how I get my exercise. Alright, so now we have some good Patreon content. We had to make it up. Yeah, that's straight, right? No, no, no, no. I think Bruno Mars. It is. Yeah. Look, wow. I'm muted now, so no one can be mad at me. Tomato, tomato. Bruno Mars is a TV show on the CW, right? Yes. Recently came back due to crowdfunding. I believe that he's a psychic who helps the FBI with their worst cases. Okay, that makes sense. By studying bones. The nice thing about our group is we remember '90s stuff. We do. That's nice. Yes. Bruno Mars is also on The Bad Place.

You guys remember when there wasn't an internet? I do. I try not to. Anarchy. Yeah, there's chaos. I was going to say, that was back in the day before anybody fact-checked anything, but it's not like they do that now. It's funny because the world's in turmoil. Now, Black Dragon, your thoughts? That killed me. I think that's the most we've ever had Zach laugh. Actually, yeah. That's a badge. I'll take that to my grave. Anyways. Well, noted, I guess. There's not much we can do about it. I guess we just watch it fly off into the distance. For now. Well, we don't because I rolled a three.

Well, I imagine it's one of those things. Look at that. I have land on definitely land. Oh, look over there. Yeah. At least it's far away. Oh, my first dragon. Oh, yeah. Right. Nice. Here's your first dragon. We may see that dragon again someday. It may kill us. And then Merrick's just going to live fondly in the distance. I think a blank face just goes over various. Oh, back to what I was doing. What were you doing? Oh, probably eating. Oh, OK. OK, let's camp it up. Hell, yeah. So the 28th affair yours in the books. Shall we continue into the 29th? So the 29th affair your last day of the month, you guys are going to round the bend and start to head north.

I'd say around one, two o'clock, something like that. You are now heading north toward Aldmore. Now, this is where the journey could potentially get a little tricky because you are heading towards a forest known as Bandits Rest. Now, ambushes are very, very common. I would say you would know enough as adventurers in the area that if you spotted a thing like you saw earlier with the bridge and the people, don't stop. Mm hmm. Or at least stop with a good amount of distance between you and them. Fair point. Just throwing it out there. That being said, you guys are approaching a bridge and there are some...

No, no, no. Again? No, we move on to the next bit. You don't do the same bit. I'm going to say that you guys are going to continue north for the better part of the day, taking breaks and stuff like that. You are about three and a half days... About three days, actually, outside of Aldmore, all said and done. I need another d20 roll to see how the next couple of days are going to go. And I think we need it from Zac. I was just about to say something stupid like, step aside, I got this. Look at this, easy. I'm inspired by your confidence. Oh, hell. Oh. That's a 9.

It could be worse. Could be worse. We'll see. If we're stopping to make camp alongside of this forest, that's kind of notorious. Is there a way we can try for like maybe the opposite side of the road in a place that's maybe a little bit more secluded? Oh, totally. When you're in areas like this, I sort of guess that you're taking every precaution. You're not going to sleep on the... And you're not quite at the forest yet, but you're in a general area. Yeah. Once you cross... There's a river. And once you cross this big raging river, it's pretty much time to get your serious face on.

It's like, okay, this is the threat. Like if you were traveling through Dragon's Reach, guess what you got to keep a lookout for? Yeah, no. So, yeah, I would imagine that anybody who's traveled through this area would probably go, hey, just get ready. And Merrick has definitely been up this way. So, yeah, there's tips and tricks. Yeah. So, hmm. That's a 9, guys. Yeah, what's that? Like little rain? Yeah. Well, muddy, that's all. Yeah, it's nothing huge. Right. So it will start to drizzle. Oh. A bit. Isn't it serious? Well, I am. Let's hope it stops there. Yeah. So it's gonna, there's gonna be a light drizzle, nothing too bad, but it's one of those things where after a couple hours, you're starting to get a little soaked if you don't cover up.

And that voice in Merrick's head is going to creep up again. Now, it's been the better part of a week. Utter silence. Nothing, nothing said. And it's going to, maybe a little quieter than usual, start talking to Merrick while you guys are on the road. So, what's the problem? Why are you so down? Why am I down? I, first of all, I'm not down. And number two, if I were, it's because, you know, being an adventurer is not the happiest of things to do. There's a lot of strife. There's bandits. You know how this works, right? I'm not down. Life's just hard. Oh, I'm sorry.

I assumed. You just sounded, um, I don't know, off. You're usually a little more chipper. Well, we're coming around the bend of a not particularly safe place. Got a couple of days. It's starting to rain. No, I'm not particularly happy, but everything is just fine. Thank you very much. Feel free to go back under your rock. Okay, there's no need to get snippy. I was just going to offer a little help. Marist is going to take a very, very long pause because, first of all, he's it's like he's got a parasite. It's not something he wants at all. But there's a part of him that's kind of intrigued because of the whole lycanthropy thing.

And there's just something tugging at him about kind of, I mean, almost maybe literally making a deal with the devil type kind of a thing. But he just wants to see how far it has to go before he feels uncomfortable. So long pause and he'll say, OK, all right, here's your chance. What can you do for me? Well, that's a little more like it. I thought you'd never ask. Do me a favor. Take out your knife. See, now, that doesn't sound very safe. Trust me again. I'm here to help look at it like this. If something were to happen to you, I lose my buddy. I'm just kind of stuck in that statue, not talking to anybody.

Fine. And Marist pulls out a dagger. Now. Drag that across your palm. You're not trying to cut too deep. We just need a little bit of blood. I kind of got to know where you're going with this, buddy. It's not my thing to cut myself. I got lots of reasons not to make myself feel a little too stressed. You understand? I completely understand. All we're going to do. Is we're going to cast a little spell to keep predators away. It'll make the journey a little more smooth. Peace of mind. Okay. What do you need from me? I need you to cut your palm open. And then hold it outside the cart.

Just kind of a very light trail. We're talking two, three seconds. And then you can cover back up. And then I'm going to give you some words to say. There you go. Easy peasy. This is really, really interesting because I feel like I'm trying to figure out how this would feel. Right? And I think if some dude came up to Marist and said, "Hey, man, I can do this thing for you." He would be like, "No. In fact, go away or we'll all beat you up and make you go away." At the same time, I'm imagining that there's this sense of I'm kind of stuck with this thing. And kind of finding some way to have some sort of synergy or balance.

Kind of makes some sense to him. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Maric is going to do all of this. He's just going to go ahead and be like, "Fine. Fuck it. Whatever." "It's going to keep my friends protected. Fine. This will be worth it." "I don't like it, but I'll do it." But I just kind of want to make it clear from a player point of view. I'm not sure that this is generally the kind of thing that Maric would be into. Except this is such a weird... It's almost like it's part of him talking to himself. And it's probably a little crazy making. So anyway, it's weird.

But Maric's going to go ahead and go for it. Not like, "Yay! Sounds great!" But kind of like, "Fine. I'll do it your way for a minute. Fine. Okay. Fine." Where is Maric in the car? This is dusk and later. I would say this is more... Let's say morning-ish. Oh, morning. Morning. Yeah, this is the first of Alta Orne. I don't know. I think if it's okay with everybody... I think Maric would probably end up being driving for once. Probably taking shifts. He's a morning person, so he probably would have gotten up to drive. Who'd be riding shotgun? If nobody else would, Varus would be interested.

Okay. Sounds good to me. So Maric is going to cut his palm and sort of dribble it outside the carriage. And a bit of it is going to kind of trickle onto the wagon wheels and stuff. There's not a lot of blood, but it is enough to kind of spatter. And Baric is going to give Maric some words in deep speech. Almost as if channeling through Maric, just kind of like, "Hey, this will be easier. The pronunciation's got to be right." But it's just going to be a few words. With that, there is going to be a red tinge, kind of a glow, that is going to very briefly illuminate the carriage.

And then it's going to fade. Varus, could you do me a favor? Give me a Perception check. Okie dokie. I got a +5. So Varus is, I would imagine, taking in all the scenery and stuff like that. Just kind of like, "Wow." Because Varus doesn't get out. So this is all the scenic route, basically, to Varus. Everyone else, could you do... You know what? Let's go by your passive Perception. So I would say, on a 12 or higher, you're going to notice that this carriage, there's a faint glow. Just for like half a second. But it's going to be one of those things where it's like, "Uh...

Did everyone else see that?" I saw that. Ok, maybe I'm dumb. Yeah. Do we have to beat a 12? 12 or higher. 10 plus what? Oh, if you look, your passive Perception is calculated right on the front page of your thing next to Senses. There it is! Ok. Haha, fuck that. Nope. Yep. Same. Isn't that funny? The two people who are probably looking at their main page with their passive Perception don't see it. I was scouring my front page, like, "There's my AC, there's my initiative, there's my speed, hit points." Like, just completely didn't see it. But yeah, no, I got a 9 there.

So, Clara's sleeping. So, Avalon would notice. Huh. It would be one of those things where he would raise an eyebrow about it, but he wouldn't cause attention to it just yet, but it was like, you know, if there was like a blimp indicator, it would be like, "Avalon has taken notice." Right. Ah, the old Telltale games. So... Old, yeah. Yeah. Um, Bark is going to continue. There we go. Just a mild protection spell. Animals can sense that, and they should keep a pretty good distance from you now. At least for the next couple of days. Well, uh... Makes me feel pretty gross, I'll be honest with you.

But I appreciate the... protection. Again, Merrick. I'm here to help. Somehow... I still don't completely trust that, but here we are. How about I leave you alone for a little bit? Yeah. Just leave me alone for a little bit, thanks. I'll let you know if I need you. Of course. And with that, you're almost going to feel... Kind of like someone stepping out of the room, that feeling. Mm. And Merrick will be alone with his thoughts here. Ugh. That's weird. So! I would say, the first of Ultororn is going to wrap up. And you guys are still on the road heading north. Anything anybody wants to do before we keep going?

Nope. I say we keep on trudging along. Let me see something here. Uh oh. Oh, nice. That's interesting. No. Yeah, that's a good roll. Yeah. Yeah. A sandstorm blows up. No! No, no, no, no. A dead body is in a trench near... Hey, are all you guys wearing gloves? Or, uh... No, no, no, no. I'm double gloving it. Joke's on you. My body is gloves. A full body condom. [Laughter] There was a hand gesture that went with it. You didn't see it. I bet it's like a flowing thing. Yep. Excellent. Yes. Okay. Here's what I want from the party. I want you to give me one more perception check.

All of you. As you guys are making camp for the evening, on the first of Ultororn... Hey, that's better. Oh, nice. Look at us all. Look at us, our perception gang. I see nothing. Except for Elorath. Elorath is probably like tripping over her own bedroll. She's like, "Fuck!" Super tired. That's all. Super tired. She's a sleepy girl. She's still mad about those troll bridge bandits. [Laughter] Troll. El called them the Wet Bandits from the other room. Oh. I don't know why. They'll forever be named the Wet Bandits. Because they're... They're crossing a creek. Yeah, there's a creek in there.

Yeah. Okay, then she's still mad about the Wet Bandits. Ugh. The Wet Bridge Bandits. I'm more mad about it now than I was when it first happened. The Moist Bandits. [Groaning] I feel like if Elorath and Clara talked about that, Clara would basically just be like, "I've dealt with so much shit like that. I don't care." No, she understands. She's just like, "Ugh, that guy was such an asshole." I bet it's like, okay, not only were they assholes, but that just teaches them to keep doing it. Right. You know, there's two prevailing schools of thought, I would imagine.

Ugh. Plus the fact that he was just basically like, "Smile." You know, like, "Fuck you. Doubly fuck you." So, um, I did not expect you guys to roll high enough to get this, but... Avalon Americk rolled a 22. That's awesome. Thank you. The sun is setting. But on the horizon, the sun is up just enough for you guys to spot this. Dotted on the horizon, well behind you, you can see a flash. Just a brief flash. And both of you are going to parse out. I would say it happens once, then twice. Almost like someone's trying to send you a message, but it's not going on long enough for that.

And sometimes people use reflective surfaces to send, like, a version of Morris Code, something like that. But what this was was perhaps either someone being a little careless, or you guys just happening to look up at the right time, right angle, all that stuff. But it looks like someone is using, um, like a spyglass, something like that. Which means they are definitely looking at you. And if you were to go all eagle-eye, which both of you would with a 22, you would see a lone black horse with white mane on the horizon just stopped looking at the party.

And I think that's a good time for us to stop for the evening. Uh, question. Yeah? Does it have a horn? No. Okay, good. Nope. I'm half elf. I know. I don't want to die. Trying so hard not to get some flags. We really hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. As we mentioned at the top of the show, we just did a bunch of new content for our Patreon at patreon.com/dandr. We just did a two-hour episode of Living in Theory where we answered tons and tons of your questions, over 60 of them, about Atheists, which will get you guys primed for the group that's going to be starting exploring there.

We did a character chat with Michael earlier this month and a bunch of other stuff. Thank you so much for your reviews on iTunes, by the way. People have been sending those in. That helps us a great deal. We are probably not going to be doing an extended rest this month because of Thanksgiving and just trying to work around scheduling. But we did get all our episodes pretty much ready to go for December and we think you guys are really going to be happy. I just recorded eight straight hours with Group B and a lot happened. So get ready for that next month.

Thank you guys so much. We really, really appreciate your support. Make sure and send us any emails with opinions or questions you have to dandrpodcast@gmail.com. That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com. And we will see you in December with brand new content.