Gaslight

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And for one dollar, you get access to a bunch of different stuff. And one of them is a 45 minute newsletter where we detail everything we're changing in 2020. Previously for Group C. A battle with werewolf Merrick ensued on the ship called the Glittering Prize. The crew rallied together to push back Merrick in an attempt to subdue him. Meanwhile Merrick himself was bartering with a demon lord, Barrick. As the situation worsened on the ship, Merrick tried to push back and not make a deal with the creature. By the end, however, he signed on the dotted line.

And that's where we pick up things today. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves for the last time in 2019. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master going around the table starting with Jasper. Hello, I'm Jasper. I play Merrick, Ethelred, Human Cleric. And Bree. Hi, I'm Brianna. I play Clara Rothdale, the half-Drow fighter. And Zac. What's up? My name is Zac and I play Iveline Bates, the human fighter. And Ryan. Hey, everyone, I'm Ryan and I play Varys Alder, the half-elf monk. And Mandy. Hi, guys, it's Mandy and I play Iris Hawker, the human cleric.

And last and certainly not least, Lisa. Hey, I'm Lisa and I play Elorath Beastinger, the halfling barbarian. Merrick has just gotten done talking to Varys. It is the morning of the 12th of Ultaorn. And the sun is still kind of cresting over the horizon here. It's this beautiful golden hue. And before I ask everybody what they want to do here. Merrick. Yes. I want to establish a couple of things because you just got done this conversation here. And you guys are like a day outside of Uminyara. What's going through your mind? That's a good question. I think one question I have for you to establish the context is what is in Merrick's mind?

Is he aware of everything? Totally aware. Yeah. Okay, so this is a moment then where if you can imagine just a split second of finalizing some horrible deal. And then kind of just coming right back to a moment of finishing meditation and calm and staring into the horizon with amulets and holy symbols and whatever. Just like all of this calm stuff. It's pretty jarring. So I bet there's this strange cognitive dissonance of truly probably feeling physically calm because that's the moment. But mentally feeling like screaming at the same time. So if this is the moment of sort of having just had a quick conversation with Varys at the bow of the ship in the morning.

And I don't know, he's going to be paralyzed for a moment. But I think he'll also know exactly what happened within a few seconds. Just OK. That's that's that. Two things that would go through his head. Probably one is, OK, this is just for me. Like, in other words, he's going to protect everyone else as much as he hasn't been able to protect them up till now. And then honestly, if the moment sort of ends with Varys sort of walking away or, you know, just sort of the moment sort of ending. I think his thoughts would be around setting things right in a very, very deliberate way.

And other than that, I think he's basically just going to go with the flow. OK. Could you do me a favor and give me a perception check, please? Sure. Give me a second here. Yeah, that's an eight. That's an eight. Well, I think you may be a touch overwhelmed at first from, you know, like you said, it's a little jarring. But looking around, you're going to notice a couple of things. The the again, that that beautiful golden horizon in front of you, the sun's rising. You're going to there's some commotion on the ship as the crew of 30 or so people are are moving around.

And the the sky is just this beautiful dark blue behind this golden sunrise. So as that sun's coming up, you're just going to be able to see for miles and miles this calm, beautiful water. As a as a really stiff breeze kind of picks up at your back. It's going to catch the sails and you guys are definitely starting your day on the right foot. And someone is going to come up to Merrick. And this is a new face, but going to come up to Merrick, sir. Yeah. Hi. Yes. Yes. But the kitchen staff needs to see you. We need you to make a final decision on a few things, if that's OK.

Yeah. Yeah, I'll be I'll be there in a second. Yeah. Yeah, I'll be right there. And he's going to start collecting all of the things that he had sort of laid out and and just collect his belongings, put them all together very, very slowly, deliberately, very calmly. But then he's going to make his way to the kitchen. OK, so Merrick's going to walk in and see four or five people kind of scurrying around. And they're all getting this this breakfast prepared. And there's fresh fruit. There's there's there's kind of like I would call those side options, but there's a lot of egg dishes being prepared and there's fresh bread baking and like that.

Like these guys are working overtime. Merrick is going to with a very stern. He's going to go right back into muscle memory. Right. I'm just being in a kitchen. So he's not going to he's not pulling any punches. He's going to really like pick up, pick up whatever egg sort of small omelet type thing it is. You sort of pick up the edge of it and like, you know, check how rubbery it is kind of. It is just really just making sure everything's just right. And, you know, presumably everything is pretty good. They've been kicking, kicking ass and he's going to. Yeah, it'll do.

It'll do. And read the the Aladrin sous chef that you have working here has been second command, I would say, as as you left. And he's going to give this slight smile like he's got like he knows what you're doing. And it's just it's just kind of like, oh, my God, you world class ball buster, like just just give him a compliment. That type of thing. But like, yeah, he's not going to say that. And that was a compliment for me. Right. This will do. There's probably the oh, thank God this is great. What the only thing that Merrick will do beyond that is he's if he if he if he sort of if he comes face to face with Reed for a second and read sort of smiles.

Merrick's just going to close his eyes and he's going to use thaumaturgy to basically I know that there are cabinets that are open. He's just going to slam them all shut, like like tighten this shit up and he's going to go past. Read not in it. He's not gonna be an asshole. He's just going to be very blunt about it and just be like he's going to make his way out of the kitchen. And in other words, it's all good. Just keep it going. And he's going to make his way out. And honestly, as soon as he leaves the kitchen, it'll probably sort of just rush back to him at just this moment of like he'll catch himself a little bit like he's going to be in a whirlwind for for a little while.

He's he's there are two things going on in his head. One is he's incredibly happy that everything seems to be on the right path and that he's also in his emotional mind, kicking the emotional devastation of whatever he's done to himself down the road. Like he's pushing it down. Gotcha. And he's just he's just trying to get into the moment and just stay positive. Let's go to the captain's quarters really quickly. Elrath's beautiful, spacious captain's quarters is all laid out. And I would imagine you're checking out some maps and just doing captain stuff, right?

You know, just making sure that everything is as it should be. And you've got the morning check in and like four or five people report to Elrath and just it's like, OK, here's what's going on. And they're, you know, they're keeping an eye on things like weather and possible problems on the horizon, that type of stuff. And so far, everything looks really good. And they're going to they're essentially just standing there at attention, waiting for Elrath. Oh, Lord. Who all would you say is in there currently? I guess it would probably be Elrath and Avilan.

Probably, yeah. Zalu is is definitely there. And you you got your beautiful mahogany desk. Just oh, it's it's it's gorgeous. And I would say that there are maps and all kinds of stuff laid out everywhere, like a real command center you got going on. OK. Probably like everybody and depending on the reports that they gave, just be like, you know, sorry, trying to think I got to get back in the mode of captain. Just like, oh, is there anything we need to do to make sure we're staying on the right course? So each one of these people are going to sound off, right?

And they're essentially just letting you know everything from from tip to tail what's going on on this ship. So they have the glittering prize completely and not to not to use the ship shape. So, of course, you got your iron reinforced skirts on the side, ready to deal with any, you know, any short range, you know, ballistic fire if that should happen. But there's no ships anywhere on the horizon that they can see. Weather looks fantastic. They have they have people helping Varus scout. So when he calls out a path, they can completely let him know it's OK.

Here are some possible avenues that might give us some problems. But they're, of course, just kind of double checking with him. And there is a strong breeze at your back and that's increasing travel speed. Everything looks amazing. Yes, I guess she'd probably turn to, you know, like various and everybody and all them and just be like, well, it sounds like we're doing real good and you guys are doing a great job. So just keep doing what you're doing and we'll deal with anything that pops up. And then if they cover their formation, be like a dismissed with like an awkward salute.

Yeah, I wouldn't say well said, captain. Oh, I mean, aye aye, captain. I'm just staring at you all weird. Sorry. You have various will do kind of like this little mock, almost like a joking salute, because he knows that you don't really like it, but he tries to keep it up a little bit with other people present. So he just does that. And then just with a little smile on his face, then he walks out. So I want to get Varus's read on a couple of things. One, your current course with the weather looking so great. Are you making for Westport and then kind of stopping resupplying or are you trying to shoot straight for Kodai?

And if so, what direction? How? So I think with the weather being so calm and based upon our previous discussions, basically beelining it as straight as fast as possible over to Westport and then resupply as fast as possible and then head out. Okay, that sounds great. So let me check below deck real quick. So Clara has obviously a team of people working under her. So you got Zalu reporting in. And then you have a bunch of people who are essentially just waiting for Clara to tell them what to do. But right now, everything on the ship looks great. Like there's not a hinge unoiled.

There isn't, you know, all six of your cannons look fantastic. Everything's even polished. Like everything looks beautiful. So they kind of just standing around twiddling their thumbs, kind of waiting for Clara to delegate something. My goodness. Check the privy. Oh, man, I'm gonna have to redo Clara's to do list, but I won't remove Zalu. Okay, so if everything looks great, I guess I don't know what you do when everything looks great. Jason, help me out here. Oh, so there's a saying in factory work. If you got time to lean- Time to lean, you got time to clean!

I know that one. Yep, yep. They say that in all work, Jason. Yeah, I know. Unless you own the place you're standing in, someone is going to say that to you. That's true. I mean, I guess it depends on what kind of boss you want to be. Well, I want to clean. I don't want it to be gross. Like we should probably clean up a little bit. I feel like Clara is the type who would enjoy lists. And so she would probably make a checklist of everything that needs to be cleaned each day and tell everyone to maybe like leave their initials next to the thing that they cleaned so that we know that everything's getting done each day.

So if that's a system that Clara's already established, that would probably be a thing Zalu would keep up on and get people to check in with here and there. Right. So she would give the report and then she'd kind of put a hand on Clara's back and just kind of let it linger there for just a second and then tell her, "Don't worry, I got it under control," and then go back to work. Clara would blush for damn sure. And she would probably say like, "All right, let me know if you have any suggestions." So if this ship is a-rockin', don't bother knockin'. This is all too good.

I don't like it. I don't trust this even a tiny bit. I don't think Varys would know that rule, so he'd probably knock anyways. Oh no! It's always good to knock. Excuse me. I hear something rockin'. I'm a-knockin'. It's like, "Oh, wait a minute. I got that wrong." Sounds like someone's being attacked by a wild animal in here. Someone died? Hello? Fun fact, most of the noises are Clara. And finally, let me check in with our medical bay, our chief medical officer, Iris. There is someone who accidentally banged their shin, and three of your nurses are already taken care of the situation.

They just kind of- there's gonna be a bump. But that is the biggest medical emergency you've seen since you left Uminera. Poor buddy. How good looking is the poor buddy? In general or the shin area? In general. Oh, I mean, they're great. They're tip-top. Everyone looks so well rested and everything. Again, it's only been a day at sea, but this is a really good crew. She'll either let the nurses handle it, or she'll be like, "Oh, let me assist with that." "Let me tell you about- Oh, would you like to hear about VACNA?" She'll either stop, just chit-chat with them as the nurses tend his or her boo-boo.

And then if they're picking up what she's putting down, she'll talk with them. But otherwise, she'll be pretty happy. She's like, "This is great. I already love this journey." And she'll start making her rounds to check in with people. It's like, "Oh, did you scratch your hand? Let me take a look at that." "Oh, let me tell you a little story." And she's just having a great time mingling. I would say that first person with the boo-boo on their shin, they probably hit their leg on their bunk or something like that. It's like, "Oh, man, just boom. Like, ow, son of a bitch." She would already be- The second Iris mentions VACNA, it's like, "I worship VACNA." I would imagine there'd be a good 10-15 minute conversation you guys swap in stories and all that good stuff.

"Oh, do you have to hang out more? Please join me as I- When we have dinner, you have to introduce me to your friends and everything." She's so happy, just ecstatic. I have a big question. Me too, when you're done. About some of the stuff that's going on, mainly with memories. Yes. So I'm guessing we don't remember anything that was going to happen or did happen. No. I would say as you're going throughout your day, there's this weird sense of deja vu. Like you go to pick up something or you're going to look out on the horizon and you're like, "Huh, that's weird." But it would be like a passing moment and then- Yeah.

Okay. The next thing is there seems to be some subtle changes around the ship. Uh-huh. This is not our ship. I mean, it's always been a fairly large ship. Like it's pretty- You got your iron skirts, your six cannons, well defended, 30 person crew. Like it's- Jesus Christ. Six cannons? There was definitely not six cannons there. There was always six cannons on this ship. I have it in my notes. It wasn't six cannons when we went to combat. What combat? Fair point. Oh my God. So that was leading to my next thing is was there- So if we're skipping back to time and things have changed, has the ship always been in this condition or was it something like at that point in time after that conversation, the ship is just different and we can't place it?

Since you have been on your journey, this is the ship. Always has been the ship. Okay. Perfect. I just wanted to clear that up. No, and that makes perfect sense. There's a system in place that none of the groups have taken advantage of. And I want to remind everybody, just take this time to remind everybody. It's a system called travel dye. Now travel dye works kind of like inspiration. Every once in a while, I'm going to give you guys a travel dye for doing something in game that I don't know, is kind of above and beyond, right? And you guys are sitting on a travel dye.

The way it works is while you're going somewhere, you can choose to roll your travel dye, which is a D4, and just skip ahead that many days. And while you're traveling that way, you will not get into combat. Things might happen here or there, or there might be a role play prompt or something, but it's a reward. It's not a punishment. So just letting you guys know, you have it in your inventory. You can use it whenever you like, or just bank it, sit on it. It's fine. I say we take it then. It's a beautiful day. What do we have to lose? Right? It's better than being stuck in the middle of the sea, I say.

We could just blow on by a few days. Amen. Before anything happens, though, after having his kitchen moment, Merrick is going to go absolutely back to the aft to look over the back of the ship and just scan and scan and scan to see if there's any notion of a ship following, of anything at all that he can see that just feels out of place. Yeah. And again, obviously you're not going to see Elara anymore, but for a long time you can see Uminyur kind of hanging there just on the horizon. And that's obviously well out of your way now. But yeah, no other ships on the horizon.

You guys are pretty much, it looks like, alone in this general portion of the sea. Merrick sort of uniquely, he knows that that's true, or at least that's his perception. But he's sort of scanning because he doesn't believe it. He's just like, "No, no, no, no. There's got to be something. There's got to be something. There's got to be something." So it's kind of being in a loop, just kind of disbelieving what his good fortune has been because he knows that there's a catch. And he knows there's a catch, but he's just looking to see if there's some chip in the illusion, if that makes any sense.

That's just the way that he's approaching it. I mean, he's got a team. He's got people in the kitchen. They're baking bread. That wasn't even a thing. And now it's going to be confusing for a little bit. But other than that, yeah, travel die. Let's do it. So I guess I got a question. Who wants to be the one to roll the very first travel die on DNR? So a lot of this was caused by Marek. So I think Jasper should have the honor. Well, then, oh, I may not get an opportunity to say this for a while. Marek, do me a favor. Give me a D4. This is a much better D4 than usual.

And even in-game, Marek has this sense of he's about to do something actually okay instead of something that's not okay. Here we go. That's a three. That's a three. That's good. Man, the next three days are going to be lovely. Just beautiful. I would say every night there's this miniature feast as the the Crubalo deck in the kitchen brings up this beautiful gourmet spread. And I'll leave that to Jasper to tell you guys what you're going to be eating. Doesn't have to be the complete menu, but maybe just a maybe just a highlight of the next half week. Yeah, absolutely.

So there's going to be a lot of at least for the first day, there's going to be a bunch of rice dishes like an egg fried rice. Just very, very, very simple. Everything here is simple because we're only in the first couple of days of getting off of the mainland. So make sure that things are very palatable and not too hard on the stomach, especially since people can get a little bit sick. Breakfast this morning was little omelets and with cheese in them, that sort of thing. But over the next couple of days, there's going to be things like little biscuits, like grandma's biscuits kind of a thing.

And of course, like fresh fruit, even honestly, if it's plausible on the ship as it is now, there would even be nuts and dark chocolate and just little little tiny bits of it. But just enough to be like, wow, this is this is nice. Like a little little moment to happen. I would say on that on the fourth day you guys have been out to sea and it's been remarkable. Like some of the crew are even coming to Varus every once in a while. It's like this is this is some of the best weather that I've ever sailed under. Like this is really great. Like we're we're making like double time.

This is this is amazing. And on the fourth day, there is going to be a ship behind you, but it's it's it's in the distance quite a bit. And it's it's really tough to make out what ship it is. But I think Merrick would have a pretty good idea of what's going on. Yeah, he would definitely I think this is one of those things. Once again, I'm kind of thinking as you know, nobody else is acting like anything weird has happened, but he knows something really weird has happened. And he's not mentioning to anybody. He's he's barely poking around about it. But, you know, probably the very beginning and probably dying down a little bit.

He might be like, so, you know, how's it how's it going down in the, you know, down down whatever, you know, about the cannons or something like that. And just kind of getting a feel for if anybody like Clara, anybody else is saying, yeah, this is weird. Like we have more cannons than we used to have. He's going to get very quickly. He's going to get the sense that he's the only person that's aware of any of this stuff. But there's going to be one thing he's going to keep hanging on, almost like he's going to get the rug pulled out from underneath them.

And that's going to be whenever he has a free moment, he's going to go to the back of the ship and he's going to be scanning that horizon to see what he sees over those those days. So no matter how beautiful or wonderful or smooth everything is, that's going to be like this itch in his brain. And it's not because of the royals. It's actually because he thinks, OK, where's the catch? You know, where's the when is this going to all like, you know, become an illusion and it's all going to sort of go away. So it's just going to be this itch that he won't he won't be able to get rid of.

Honestly, if if on this this fourth day, I think with a lot of silence for this few days, when he does notice that there's a ship that's following, it's going to it's actually going to be almost comforting because it's going to settle in that the reality that he's now in with everybody here is reality. In other words, this is how it should have been. If that makes any sense. And it's going to feel very, very real. It's almost going to calm, strangely calm him down about everything. And he's going to just just quickly and for the very first time since all of this.

He's actually going to say. Are you seeing this? Are you there? And there's not going to be any response. But the weirdest thing is going to happen. As Merrick thinks those words, there's going to be this memory almost like it's like, oh, I just remember where my keys are type of thing. But Merrick is going to remember that there's a letter in his pocket. OK. OK, so just like the keys thing, it's like whenever you realize, do I have my keys? He's going to put his hand on his pocket and he's going to feel that. And. He'll close his eyes and sigh, probably a pretty.

Calm, slow sigh. And he's going to pull it out the letter. Yeah. OK. I didn't know if this was taking a turn. That's all I just wanted to. So. And once he's done peeing off the back of the ship. Right. I mean, that's how it starts. A very like a solemn sigh. And then I pull it out. So, yeah. No, no, no, no letter, letter, letter, letter. The letter is going to be brief. And it's simply going to say. I think you can take things from here. I've given you a pretty good push. I'm going to be busy for a while. Good luck. Wow. Wow. It's so innocuous, isn't it? Like it's so.

Hey, thanks for letting me stay last night. I can't wait to see you again. You know, kind of a. I have a meeting. I can't stay for breakfast. I know. You know, talk to you soon. Could you call an Uber for me? Yeah, right. Yeah. Don't worry if I don't respond anytime soon. I'm just going to be really busy. He's going to he's going to read the letter probably just over and over and over. Trying to see if there's anything between the cracks, because, again, emotionally, it's going to be like you asshole or you conniving or something. Just trying to find like, where's the where's the where's the loophole?

Where's the legal language here or something like that? And I don't think he's going to find it. It's pretty straightforward. He's going to flip over the piece of paper just to see if there's anything else on the back of it and assuming that there's not he's he's eventually just going to. He's not even going to crumple it up. I think he's just going to let it go over the over the back into the water. Just let it flutter that and whatever envelope if that was if it was in an envelope or if it was it was just sort of tied together or if it was nothing to it.

He's just going to let it fall and that's it. I would say at some point someone's going to walk up to Varus and kind of tap him, tap him on the shoulder, just try and get his attention. Yeah, he would instantly turn around. Hi, I didn't I didn't want to bother you, but I've been working on something and I really wanted to run it by you. Okay, what is it? Thorin is going to slam this big book on a table near Varus and there are probably a couple of people near Varus with spy glasses like looking around just constant, constant vigil, constant keeping an eye out.

And she's going to have the book open to this this huge monster, you know, tentacles and just it's it's it's. So this is the Romeo and it's it's just this. Well, it's beautiful, but I don't think we should run into it while we're sailing. It's probably fine. I'd love to to to to to meet it one day, but. Nope. No, no, no meeting it. No, no, no, no, no, not not in these conditions, a smaller ship, maybe, and and, you know, an expedition for that might be nice, but you guys are doing something else and I think we should try to avoid it. That being said, I have a few areas on the map that we might want to avoid so that, you know, we don't have a chance encounter.

Okay. Not the direction I thought you were going to go, but okay. And Thorium would jot a few like kind of circle areas of the map that it's like, you know, historically it's fed here and here and here. There have been attacks here and here. So we probably want to avoid all of those. And once we get to Talor, it should be fine. Wow. Where did you learn this? Oh, well, I've been studying creatures like this for for quite some time. I have a brother back in Brightport who who was just showing me some things before we we we left while I headed north. It's a long story.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, this type of knowledge is definitely impressive. Yeah, I mean, I could take this over to the captain right away. And pat on the shoulder and just kind of like looking down, almost like walking away, looking at the notes of like, huh, okay. And it's there's going to be this like you could tell she kind of like swells up with pride. I'm here if you need me. You know, I as you're walking, it's like I look into this stuff a lot, like just kind of like kind of fade off. As she starts to talk, as he walks away, he's going to turn around, but keep walking, just walking backwards.

And like, you got it. Definitely. We will be having another conversation. I just want to share this information and then turn back around and almost like pick up his pace just a little bit. Put a little hop in his step. So below deck, I would say that Clara's working on something now at this point again, there's a little bit of busy work going on and all that. But at this point, the ship is large enough that people kind of disappear here and there. You have a small crew under you, but it's not exactly like you're on top of each other. Right. But Clara's going to feel a strong hand on her shoulder.

Uh oh. And Zalu is going to somewhat roughly turn Clara around and push her against a wall. Oh my God. Barrie, did you do this? You're welcome. You're welcome. I mean, it's a very long contract. It was a lot to sign up for. We can talk about the morality of whether or not it's okay to change someone's sexuality because I've never got confirmation on Zalu in the first place. But it has always been at this point. So it doesn't matter. Yes, true. Okay, I believe Clara would be very surprised. Oh, um, hi? And at this point, she's very close. And it wasn't it wasn't a violent shove, like she means you harm.

It's more out of passion. I hate to be forward, and she's gonna she's gonna like kind of nuzzle against you like, like her mouth is right next to your ear. But I must have you. Too much. No, I'm all for this. Keep going. All right, one second. I need a minute. It has been three days. Have they at least had a few conversations? I would say there's there's a kind of a predatory look in her eyes every once in a while like, like you, your eyes kind of lock at a bar like it's busy. It's like you'll be you'll be you'll be getting you'll be giving out orders and stuff like that and she'll kind of linger to ask a couple of questions she knows the answers to and like a little flirtatious moments.

So this isn't like a like a cast a love spell. No, no, no, no, this isn't completely out of the blue. And she's a little more forward than what you're used to probably but you know, line folk are it's a different it's a different culture. Right, and I'm thinking about it it's like Clara's only had one experience with another woman and she literally paid her to do it. So like, she's not used to actually waiting very long. Anyway, as far as romance goes. So, I think she kind of be into it, like, obviously shocked at first and very timid, but she probably just like do a very quick nod and face bright bright red just like, Oh, okay.

And then you can shift against the wall a little bit and reach out to cup. This is hard because she's a lion folk but like her cheek. I mean she has cheeks. Yeah, that's the thing is like I think of like animal words and I'm like, No, it's just cheek right yeah no it's just key, like, they're much more human than lion, obviously, like when you're because you're thinking like oh it's like 5050 it's like no because that would be an abomination. What you mean is more 75% human right 5% light line you know this is a very, very situation it's a very right right right so like, are we talking.

Yeah. Upper cheeks, upper cheeks. Okay, so we're going classy with it. Yeah, damn. For now, let him get there. It's not gonna go anywhere. Right. Give it like two minutes. Need some foreplay. Yeah, Clara's so romantic. So again, I'd say, a very, very predatory gaze, and she probably kind of grind up against Clara a little bit now that, like, she knows she's not encroaching upon boundaries this isn't. This isn't a, an unwanted show of affection. And they're probably be like a small gas this is getting very, very steamy very fast I'm almost uncomfortable but like I got it.

You wanted it. This is what I wanted but it's weird at the same time because like with with John Zia and Valis like they were both so fucking timid and like there was barely any PDA. And that's how you ain't timid. Yeah, Salu knows what she wants. I imagine that somebody else would walk into the room or something like that and she would be like, leave. And then probably give like a little gasp and then like, go in for a kiss right then like, all right, let's fucking, let's go. So, maybe even like wrap her leg around her, like, are we doing it right here like is this is happening.

It would appear to almost be like a lack of control about the situation but at the last minute she would probably grab Clara's wrist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we'll do the tasteful, the tasteful fade out. But, I like, I was sure. And then that's when Ferris comes in and starts knocking and opens the door. Yeah. You know that friend who like, just, just, I just met a woman with the weirdest. Oh wow hi. I'm looking down at the paper and just get halfway into the room before I even look up. Oh my god that's a lot of fur. And then close the door and be like, what was she doing with the tail.

Yeah, I would say there's, there's like a lot of tooth grazing type of thing like nibbling not like biting, but like yeah very very very passionate. Well, wait a second. As is tradition on the show. Oh no. I need you to give me like an athletics check. Oh, athletics you say? Yes. Wow. Almost a crit. Yep. So that's gonna be 26. Clara, I'm good at this. You have a very good time. Almost as if there was an alternate reality where you were denied this and yeah subconsciously you're just very appreciative. Yeah, no, you have, you have a very good time. You have a 26 good time.

Yeah 26. Yeah, that's that's, I don't think. Some shit. Yeah, like, no one knows. As a grown man in the real world, I don't know if I've ever had a 26 good time. I was gonna say, proficiency bonus to be damned. Yeah, I mean I've tried to have a 26 good time. But man. I'd roll investigation. Maybe Arcana. I'd roll deception. Disadvantage. I was just gonna say all this talk about you know, wild sex and intrigue. What would Avlin be into just like naturally so I think I'm going to roll a d4. One human, two elves, three. I gotta get a little creative. Drow maybe? I could see Drow.

Goliath? Lion? Goliath? I feel like he'd be like, that's a challenge. It would be like that. That's true. I just I get the vibe. So like, I have a chart, if you'd like to use it. Yeah, let's use that chart, because it's every race and area so like that's your first roll and then it's like, well what size are you after you know, do you like them tall, short, that type of thing. I don't know if you want a tall gnome. Well I mean tall for a gnome that's different. I, and again, I don't know if you know if Avlin's gay or straight or whatever but like, yeah, no there's there's there's there's always there.

Is there a whole table for that because, oh baby yeah. You know this is this is why we leave things to professionals. They have things ready. I want to add it to the book. Damn, we're not getting Zalu art. Oh, we could I could, I'll pay for it. Are you serious. A little bit. Can we have cuddles between Clara and Zalu and the G-rated cuddles? Oh, G-rated? Yeah, I was about to say we have to cover it up like with it is a not safe to work flap. Into the special back section of the work. Yeah, back to Clara's biography and put that in at the very end like, well she was on the boat she just so happened yeah that's happening.

I mean, we can. I think we need another art print, signed by the cast. Everyone uncomfortable. I think we're doing more than kissing it next time. Oh caress the fuck out of that just, oh yeah. I'll give it a hug. As friends. Wearing my overalls it'll be super sexy. Was this chart thing actually here because now I'm really curious. The love chart. Yes, yes that's real. Whip it out Jason. Wow. Like Jasper does. I can't just perform like that guys I gotta I gotta so much pressure. Let's go. Stare at you. Oh, you mean you can't perform on the spotlight Clara. I mean maybe my charts not big enough and now I'm a little insecure about it.

Maybe it needs to be a longer chart. It's, it's, it's plenty big it's just fine. It's not about the length of the chart. It's not the role of the die. It's not. I don't want to hear it's fine. I want a really good chart. And it's, it's. I'll never know but until you whip it out. I want you to beg me to roll again on the chart. Guys, I want you all to know that playing with you guys is the highlight of my month and the fact that we got to this month makes me very happy. Yeah. Are you sure your highlight of the month was getting the ram shackled by a line folk.

I think that's the cheek. So there's more cupping going on after that. So many cheeks. Remember when you were talking about your strong fingers earlier. I picture Clara is going to need new clothes like I feel like claws were involved at some point. They probably stink. I'll be honest. No, they're not okay. There's like glands. Oh my god. I don't like where this is going. These get pretty smelly afterwards just imagine how it sticks to fur. Oh, you know, I mean there's some glands that need to be expressed that usually take people to the vet for you gotta, this will do it.

You gotta hose your lover out back afterwards. All I'm saying is don't mess this up because we're all trapped on a boat. And if this gets. It's gonna be some. Oh, you don't want to break up with a. And for the record, it wasn't a joke Clara is almost immediately gonna turn around and be like so like what is this. Well, you know what, I think we need to roll for that but let's let's let's get back in. You know the ones who get married after like three months. Oh yeah the U-Haul ones. I mean three months three dates man. I'm learning so much tonight. Um, you know what, let's pick things up with that.

Is that something okay. No, no, no, no. Okay. I asked everybody if they wanted to take a break we're back now. You, you said something and you were serious and we all thought it was. Come on. But I want it to last a little bit before it all gets ruined. It's the best thing that's happened to Clara this arc. You never know. Till you whip it out. Zach, we're still waiting on Jason to whip it. Look, when the time comes, I will whip it. I will whip it good and you will. You'll all see. I'll be very impressed. All right. Give me a second. So, these two just finished their 26 level sex.

Very important. Sounds so advanced they were they were like, there are positions that would kill lesser people. It's true. I just imagined. Clara is gonna be like, what are we? Sex is too good. I think we should stay friends. Way too good. You know when cats, you know when cats bathe themselves and they stick their leg up. And then they look at you like yeah look at this shit. Yeah, with their tongue still sticking out like what, what, what. That's how you woke up. So like, catch your breath. You get some Gatorade get the electrolytes back. Mm hmm. Wait, did she sleep in the in the nook in the crook of your legs on the bed?

Like a cat. So weird for me with my cats later it's gonna be so weird. You're killing it. You're killing it, Jasper. Having sex with my cat later is gonna not be the same. It's gonna be so weird this time. I have so much hatred in my heart now. I was just looking for Dragon Con it's okay. Yeah, you can hit him at Dragon Con. Feel free. I was enjoying my furry porn and no now it's dead. Sorry. Okay, all right. All right, I'm shutting up I'm muting myself. Bye. So I don't think she would jump right into it. But she would just be like that, that was really nice like that kind of like easing into it like, are we talking after this is the first thing.

Because Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, Clara's like only experience was, you're paying me so I'll do whatever you want. Right and Whisper was really nice. So I don't think it was so much about the money, like money, you know, like it was. It was more a favor from sleazy Pete, but like there's always going to be that thing in the back of your head like you don't want to be the person who's like that. I love that stripper they're gonna fall in love with you don't want to be that person. So I feel like I, in my head I kind of always kind of knew how that went. And in a weird way like not the sex part I didn't think about that a lot but like easy into it like she was probably really honest about like, I've never done this before and I kind of just trying to figure out if this is what I like like that kind of thing.

So, I imagine it was even slower and nicer than usual for whisper because it's like, oh, you're a virgin. Yeah, go ahead. Well, okay, there's pros and cons to this type of thing because again, Zalu is the type of person who knows what she wants, right, and she's not really about the slow approach like it's like, okay, I'm going to test the waters here and that was an aggressive testing the waters by any, by any stretch, honestly, not to be that guy. If, if that were a male doing that I think it would come off as more rapey. But, oh yeah, yeah, right.

I had to ask if we had talked to make sure it wasn't that rapey. Right, right, right, right. So, this is more like that unspoken will they won't they for like a week. And like she's like it's okay is this cool kind of like without asking if it's cool. And then once Clara reciprocated boom it's off to the races so Rocky the first Rocky movie kind of situation. And then I'm gonna kiss you know it's like, ah, but it's really shy like it's that yes, but you're Adrian in this situation, and you didn't, you didn't say no. So cool. You guys had a great time. It was a 26.

Now, beyond that, that would kind of be a con for a lot of people, the pro would be, she's not feeling awkward after this, especially with the 26, like, if there was let's say a failure to perform on Clara's part. That might be a little more awkward, but like you both wanted it, you both had a great time. There's no part of her that's like, oh it's so weird now it's, it's like, she's fine with all this, so she would probably be speaking and talking to Clara and talking about how admirably you both performed and you both should be. I believe that. Very good.

I rate that a 26 out of 10. So I think eventually and Clara is much more reserved and a little shy, but the fact that Zalu is so forward and confident, probably helps her a lot. It's like, you know, yeah there's some of that weirdness hanging in the air, right when one person is confident, it really helps the person who's not confident like, oh this isn't weird. Okay. Whereas, when two virgins go at it. It's fucking awkward. Oh, so no one knows what they're doing. And I think like she probably has the blanket kind of pulled up covering herself and all that and she will eventually kind of be like, so what happens now.

Here's where we need to roll. Okay. Now, I want you to roll a d10. On a scale of one being probably not what Clara is after and 10 being, oh, we're married now. I want to see how Zalu reacts to this, how she interprets. Okay. Alright. Could I argue for advantage for the 26? Yes. Yes. Okay. It was really good sex. All right, here we go. Wait, it didn't do advantage. Roll again. Okay, that was weird I highlighted it anyway. Okay, so we're dropping a five and we're taking a seven. Five would have been okay too. It's not negative. Neither of those were bad. Yeah. So again, I picture.

I almost picture Clara in Zalu's arms a little bit. Like, I picture Zalu as a cuddler afterward. Oh, because she's a cat. Okay, yeah. That is racist. Cats are great at cuddling. That's true. Oh, does she, wait, I just learned a new word yesterday. Does she bunt me at any point? Well, that would be more of a headbutt from her. It would probably break the bridge of your nose. It's like a nozzle. Not from, okay. Loki doesn't hold back when doing it to me and he's an eight pound cat. I imagine a lion folk would crush your goddamn, like, you'd need reconstructive surgery afterward.

Mostly just wanted to show off that I knew the word bunt, but okay. I know. I know. Also, you're being really nice saying he's eight pounds. That was really cool. You leave my son alone. She is going to pause for a moment. I would like to continue to see you if... that would be acceptable to you. I find your confidence intoxicating. Aw, she thinks she's confident. That's adorable. I feel like without even realizing it, Clara was a bit tense when she asked the question. And as soon as it was confirmed that like, Oh, I'd like to continue this, like she'd probably relax a little bit.

And then nod and maybe curl into her chest a little bit and say, I'd like that too. Would you like me to keep it a secret from the rest of the crew? Oh, I don't even think that would have occurred to her. I feel like that would show on her face. Like, Oh yeah, this is, this is probably not something I'm supposed to do. If you would like, I can ensure that no one will speak a word of it. Oh my. Clara would look up and meet Zalu's eyes and just go, I'm not ashamed. Whatever you think is best, you know this life better than I do. And she's going to kind of grip Clara a little bit and there's kind of like a low rumble in her chest.

Some would call it purring. Let's cut up to the deck. I think we've had enough naked fun times. Auggie is going to scream down from the crow's nest. Land ho! In sight, everyone's going to be able to see Talor. You are all closing in to Westport. Beautiful, beautiful land. And obviously it's just got a different look to it. A different feel. One, everything looks a bit drier. It looks more rugged. Even from here you could tell. You're used to, like, okay, if you're leaving Brightport, if you're leaving Umineiro, it's a big city. It's this big, lived-in thing. Westport, if you're looking through a spyglass at this point, you'd see this tiny little burg.

And there's a decent-sized port. Little harbor there. And you'd see some ships docked and stuff. But it's very much a resupply-and-go type of place. And it's just so dinky. It's like if you're in Alabama and you need to stop for gas. It's like, oh man, these pumps are ancient. And everything just feels a little quaint. I guess is the nice word for it. Elrath would probably run either up to the crow's nest or to the front of the ship. Just very excitedly stare out at the new landmass. Because she's never, you know, obviously been this way before. And if Varys is up there with her, she'll probably clap him on the back.

Oh yeah, you'd definitely be up there. Sort of like, you did it buddy. Yeah, this... I think a smaller ship it would take a lot longer because there's a smaller crew. You guys have your outfit better. The wind was with you and all that. This is record time. You'd probably have to do some research, but this is probably the fastest any crew has made it to Talor. Wow. You'd need help from the devil himself to be better than that. Exactly, right? Also, you're all really good at playing the fiddle. I don't know if I said that early on in the episode, but it does...

Is it that explains what's in my inventory? We all practice together as a band. Pulling into Westport, there would be... Well, it's an interesting site. Who knows a bit about Talor? Who's got a history check for me? Who's got it? Yeah, no. No? I'm not sure I have one, no. No, yeah. Just don't see it. Varys has read stories and stuff, but I don't know how widespread that would be. Anybody who's a book-learned person or reads about exploring, give me a history check. Let's see what you got. Right? Oh, no. Varys rolled a two, so no. I feel like, you know, Merrick hasn't, of course, been to Talor, but he's kind of world-weathered in a way.

I'm going to try a little history check and just see if he's caught wind of anything. Jesus, God. Well, that's a 21. So, I'm going to give Merrick the download, and he could choose whether or not to pass this along. Obviously, the crew would know a bit, too, because you don't just travel to a place without knowing. At the very least, Zalu would know what's up. Talor is divided in half. Quite literally, actually. The Lion Folk, who live in the north, their main city would be Kala, and the Githzerai, who live in Kosana in the south. Now, they have been fighting for so damn long that not only do most people forget why this actually started in the first place, but, two, there's a dividing line in the center of Talor, kind of like in Vietnam, where they're, you know, it's so blighted by fighting and explosions and all that that nothing really grows there.

It's pretty savage. Now, Westport is an agreed-upon demilitarized zone. There is no fighting in Westport. No matter how bad things get, that is neutral territory. It is like an embassy. That being said, fighting does take place outside of Westport at times. So when you get there, you are going to see this strange group. Think of it like a middle school dance. You're going to see Lion Folk on one side of Westport, and you're going to see Githzerai on the other, and everyone's eyeing you up as you sail in. I mean, Merrick will, you know, as the time comes to be able to give this information across to people, whatever, he might be like, "Hey, do you know anything about Talor?

Here's a little bit of a quick download." Basically, his whole shtick will be, yeah, there's no fighting at Westport, but it's not the kind of place you want to keep your valuables around. It's a little shady. It ain't going to be easy peasy. So that's his advice that he's giving around to people when they're getting ready. As they're coming into the port, he's definitely going to be looking, at least on his mind. He's thinking about how big it is, how he could convince someone in Westport to stall a ship that might be coming in behind them, something like that.

So if there's anything he can sort of manage around that, he's just going to be keeping his mind out for something clever. Well, the good news is, if you got money, you could probably find someone to make an attempt. It all depends on how much money you're willing to part with. Okay, well, we'll see how that plays out. He's just definitely curious about if there's anything that looks like it would be an advantage on blocking the way. And by that, I don't mean like causing some issue in the water, but just more like, "Yeah, sorry, all the docks are full.

You're going to have to stay out a little bit further for a couple of days." He's trying to think cleverly about how to stall. That's it. Right. As you guys are sailing in, you're tying the ship off and everything like that, you'd have members of the crew that are all ready. They'd probably come up to Elorath and they'd have a checklist of anything that you guys might need. Of course, you remember that your pantry has about 40 days worth of food for the entire crew. And you got the 10,000 gold and petty cash just on the ship. Of course. So they would be more than willing to head into town and resupply with anything you guys might need and take care of everything.

Of course, you guys are also welcome to stop in Westport yourselves and take a look around. Holy shit. Definitely. Yes, please. That might not be a bad idea. Yeah, for a wedding. Elorath? No, no listeners. We're not going to see the cool city. Of course not. Bye-bye. First thing when they do dock, it's going to be like a... It's paramount to Merrick. He's going to find Yarlie. Yarlie's around, right? Oh, Yarlie's around. Yeah. Just making sure I didn't miss something here. Yeah, he's going to find Yarlie and sort of pull him aside and just sort of in confidence. And he's going to say, "Hey, we've got a ship behind us that's probably pretty close to being able to come to Westport.

Can you do me a favor and see what you can do here to stall things? There's of course some gold in it for you, but let them know there's at least a thousand gold for being able to stall a ship. You know, something maybe not broken, but maybe needs to be "repaired." Does that make any sense? He's listening and kind of pondering. Y'all expecting trouble on this ship? It's not so much a trouble as it is a... Well, it's a good nature race, and I don't want them to catch up anytime soon. So, don't want anything bad to happen, but if they do arrive, I kind of want there to be some pieces in place just to slow them down a little bit.

Again, it's good nature and I don't want anything to happen, but there's a little money behind, a little gold. Let me see what I can do. I think I might have an idea or two. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. That's it. Yeah, he's scampering off. He'd try to... Yeah. So, in Westport, again, it's a tiny place. So you got the Wrong Way Tavern, which the entire place is demilitarized. So, you got Githzerai and Lionfolk kind of mingling somewhat. They don't talk to each other. But again, every establishment's very like, "Okay, this is where the Lionfolk sit. This is where the Githzerai sit." And then there's, you know, you can sit.

But keep in mind, be very, very mindful. If you make a political statement by just sitting in a place, let's say you walk into this bar and you sit near the Lionfolk. The Githzerai on the other side are going to automatically assume that you're their allies. The slightest move in this place is read into endlessly. Just keep that in mind. So, you got the Wrong Way Tavern and the Happy Eel General Store. And those are the two businesses in Westport, essentially. And you don't have a ton of options that way. What do you guys like to do? Oh, go ahead. No, I was just going to say probably check out the General Store, but it wasn't important.

I just wanted clarification. Clara-fication. The last scene where Clara ended with, "I'll let you decide," she meant that. So, I don't know if Zalu wants to keep the relationship quiet or not. Oh, Zalu's not really the type to stay quiet. She's not a flaunter, but at the same time, if there's a lingering touch or something like that, she's going to keep it professional, but she's not trying to hide shit. And if anyone asks, it'll be like, "Yeah?" Almost at the end. It's like, "Okay." She's not going to take shit for it. You know what I mean? Alright, well, if that's the case and she's okay with everyone knowing, Clara would probably ask her if she would like to come with us.

Would we go into Talor proper and all of that? Sure, yes. Because she's a lion folk? Yeah, there's a bit of a problem there. Because of this war, both sides have a different way of looking at things. Lion folk are traditionally a bit more tribal, a bit tighter knit. The fact that Zalu left the continent is sort of backdoor looked at, not as bad as the orcs, but it's definitely looked at as like, not treacherous, but backdoor cowardly? Like, it's like, "Oh, you couldn't hack it here, huh?" Like that type of thing. So there might be some downcast eyes from her, like she's not making too much eye contact around, just kind of like, "Alright, let's do it.

Let's go." Like, not gonna hide on the ship. She would force the issue. She would kind of just offer. Yeah, she'd go along, but it wouldn't be, like, "I'm not gonna hide on the ship." At the same time, it's like, "I'm not super proud." Like, you know. It's kind of drilled into you from birth, so it's kind of tough to shape that. Her pride is injured. Because a lion pack is called a... Get it? I got you. Okay, cool. I like it. Y'all picking up what I'm putting down? Alright. Varus is doing shopping. Yeah, okay. I was about to say, you had exactly the response for that joke that you deserved.

Let's not... She's showing her true stripes now. Yeah. Oh, that's not even the right one. I just made... I don't even know. I have no idea. So yeah. Clara would invite her to come, and she would go shopping with everybody else and look around and stuff. Yeah, so there'd be a... There's a lovely half-elf lady named Gail who is running this shop, and it's fairly... It's a long shop. So when you make landfall here in Talori, you're going to realize, one, it's hot. It's a really dry heat, but it feels like it's irradiating you. It's very, very warm here. So when you walk into this place, just being in shade, it's like, "Oh, thank God." But there's going to be some windows open in here.

There's a nice little cross breeze. But it's a store that's longer than it is wide. So think like a GameStop in the mall type of thing, but way longer. So you're walking in, and there are people browsing and stuff like that. And every once in a while, you probably have to tuck in a little bit because there'd be a beefy-ass lionfolk person there. And they take up a lot of space. Like me at a Japanese-themed store in the mall. Those aisles were not built for me. Hey, they updated it. They got a bigger space. They did, and it's better. But those... Man, you and Elle like to browse in there, and I was not...

I was in the way. But the point is... I was in the way. Yeah, so imagine... So, is there something specifically you guys are looking for? Are you just kind of looking around? I think we're just window shopping. Bears would be looking for something specific. Oh, okay. Care to share. Yeah, so he's looking for a weapon. Specifically something that he can still use, where he can punch if he wants to punch, or he can cut if he wants to cut. And so, he's looking to see... Because I would picture over at the mainland, it's not something... Because the martial arts aren't prevalent there, it's not something that you're really going to be coming across.

But as soon as you're coming across here, he's probably seeing some stuff that would really help him in a fight. Yeah. And his eyes are going to start to get big. Because, again, much like the Japanese-themed store at the mall, you're looking at it like, "Wow, they got weird snacks here!" It's all just new and fresh and different. So, the weapons are going to be different. The food is going to be different. All of it's going to have a different feel. You may go to reach for something. It's like, "Oh, Lay's potato chips. Of course they're going to... Wait a minute.

What's this Walker's bullshit?" Because it's just different there, right? So, you're going to see all kinds of stuff. And there's a lot of fist weaponry type of stuff. And if you're looking at it, there's going to be a lionfolk next to you. This dude is like seven feet tall. Big boy. Oh, he's hours over me then. Yeah. So, he's going to lean down. And when he does, he's going to take up most of this aisle. And he's going to give Varus a look. "Are you going to purchase one of these?" "Oh, I definitely hope so. I really want one of these." And he is going to pick something up.

And he's going to hold it up. And it looks a little small for him. But he's going to hold it up to Varus. And what it is, is think of it like... They're not brass knuckles. What it is, is essentially it would... It's one band, like a metal band, that slides over your four fingers. And it stops about just above the knuckles. And there are these little serrated edges that kind of carve... They bend downward. So it essentially gives your fist claws. Ooh. And he's going to hold this up for Varus. "This is an anguilla." And he's kind of like... Yeah, if you don't immediately grab it, he's going to like...

"Try it!" Just kind of forceful. His eyes are definitely going to get wide. And he's going to put his hands out and then try one on. And then kind of turn it back and forth just a little bit. And then almost form the fist. And almost small punches, like forward. Like, "Okay, well, how does that work? Do I got to rake down?" And just try to figure out some of that without full out punching. And then look at it. "Do you have something that I could hide?" There's going to be this big toothy grin. And... There's a whole section. Essentially Assassin's Creed type shit.

He's going to take you. So one, he's going to grab you by the shoulders. And lead you over to a section of the shop that has this hay-stuffed burlap sack person. And he's going to grab one of these anguilla off the shelf and put it on. Because there's a sizing chart next to it. So he grabbed a little halfling size. And he's going to grab it. And he's going to rear back and punch this thing. With a downward slope. And it's going to rake the face. Like, one, there's going to be an impact. And then it's going to rake the face of this burlap and tear it wide open.

And he's going to point to it. "You try." "Oh. Okay." And again, reach out for it. And then he would repeat the exact same thing that he was shown. Yeah, there's definitely... Like, you're going to feel that. It's like, "Oh, that's got a good feel." And he's going to, like, next to this is a rack of different... I guess I would say... Very, very minor, like secretive type weaponry. And there's all kinds of stuff. There is something that straps to your wrist. And if you were to flick it in just the right way, it's a collapsible sword. Like, that rides the full length.

Like, you'd be Baraka from Mortal Kombat. [laughs] There's a version of the Anguilla that have retractable blades of different lengths. So you'd essentially be Wolverine. Why did you just roll a crit 20? What happened? So I was rolling to see, trying not to metagame from the stuff that didn't happen. But based upon the stories that he was told, because I'm guessing it's a routine now. Every single morning, Varys and Merrick go do the meditation and spending more time with him. And knowing that there's only one failsafe, probably wants to add another. Do go on.

So he would probably look back to if the party... I'm guessing the party's kind of at the point where they stopped at the storefront. And they're like, "Okay, yeah, he can go in and go in." And they're all sitting there talking. And so he looks back and then goes back to the store owner. Do you have something made of silver? So... Not only do they have silver weapons... They offer a service where they will silver any weapon that you choose custom for you for an extra 500 gold. Ooh, okay. Okay. So I sent you a link in Skype for this specific occasion. He's wanting to get this curved dagger.

Something that you can put in a small sheath and kind of have behind your belt. Something that would stay near your back, the swell of your back, that you can just reach behind, pull that out real quick. And be able to use it if needed. But something that could also stay hidden. He's gonna be describing stuff like this. And then at the end of it, you have something that fits that. And taking more of a serious tone now. Uh, they'd probably be able to hook you up in less than three or four minutes. Like it would take them some time. So you may be picking up on the fact.

Mm hmm. This is what's really cool about visiting the one shop that's demilitarized on a Cold War era-esque continent. Yeah. There's no shortage of weapons and interesting ways to try and kill someone. They got you. Yeah. Like a Walmart of death. Right? Like a Walmart. Oh, yeah. Just Walmart. So then he would be wanting to purchase that. And then look back to see if he can find a price tag for the first weapon that he was shown. So that lion folk. Do me a favor. Give me perception. On and up. OK. Nope. Don't worry about it. Extremely high or extremely low. That's what my home is talking about.

So like- Twenties or twos. You probably noticed that this lion folk is probably waiting for you to come back. And if you come back, he'll be ready to show you other stuff and describe. So if you're looking to purchase those nuc-like things, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes and stuff like that. But you're probably looking to spend somewhere in the area of 400 gold for a set that would be like a plus one, something like that to your current stuff. All the way up to 1500 if you really want to add some some accumulative damage to your strikes. OK.

Next thing, which I guess would we would have to kind of retcon or go back a little bit is how much money do we have from the pool? Are we allocating from the pool of money that was just kind of for the party to spend for this expedition? Do we have any allocated for personal uses? Well, as you guys know, you were given 15000 gold in Umineiro to to go on this expedition. And a lot of that went to the crew and stuff like that. But I'd say at the very end of it, all of you guys have about 800 gold a pop from that. Then there's always the petty cash, 10000 gold on on the ship, which you can dip into as long as it's OK with the captain.

All right. Yes. So various wants to keep the silver dagger purchase a secret. And so I guess whatever that would total up to and then however much I would have left from that 800 ish. And then he would be looking to expend up to that if it goes beyond that, he'd pretty much run out the store like a child going to the parent. Like, can I have an extra 20 and then running back in the store? OK, so you know what? Let me get that ready. Anybody else like let me ask before I start doing a bunch of math stuff. You said we all get 800, right? Oh, I said you all got 800.

Oh, man. That's that's a little chunk of change that changes things. It's just like, oh, yeah, yeah. Because before we did some window shopping, oh, yeah. I was thinking the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Windows shopping. Oh, Uncle Sam dropped a ducat in our pocket. So I know my taxes. I deserve it. It's Clara would want to buy something for Zalu. Oh, man. That's so cute. Huh? Such a lesbian. Wow. Only lesbians buy gifts for us. OK, I'm sure you just stuck with this girl. It's like, oh, I love you so much. I get married now to show my own. Oh, God. So it's fair. It's true. So, Jason, I wanted Evelyn to I'm kind of thinking about upgrading the chain mail.

Oh, really? Yes. So there is, you know, he perused the weapons side of things. What about the armor side? Oh, baby. Yeah. I mean, think about it. If there's a bunch of weapons on this island to kill the other guy. What a protect yourself. Exactly. That's the next thing you sell. The guy before you just tried to buy 10 knives. You might want to protect yourself, fella. I sell that. So next to the grenades would be armor. So perfect. That's that's a good reminder. There's all kinds. I was not joking about the grenades. There are grenades on this. Yes. So let's get you let's let's look at your chain mail options, if you will.

How much are you looking to spend on this? All 800. Oh, I have to. Yeah, I think I can hook you up now. I can give you a couple of options. You got your standard, just well-constructed chain mail, right? Like a chain mail plus one, something like that. Right. And that's because it's so plentiful here. The cool thing is it's not very expensive. Like you're looking at probably a third of the prices that you'd be spending in the big cities on Alara. Clearance, baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's really now. Obviously, these are different styles than what you're used to.

Here's do you know where they're getting all this stuff? Probably the field, like 500 feet out of the zone. Some of it. Yeah. If you're dead, you're not using your armor. So there there's there's lion folk themed armor, which is much more like like animal hides and stuff like that. But it's like thick, durable. These people have a craftsmanship about them that is like, holy shit. Like you do not see that back home. And then you have more of a like a like a metals, alloys type of stuff for the gifts, right? Which is a very cold calculating people. But holy shit, do they know how to put together some chain mail?

So you can go with, say, good. I was saying I do think I want to keep it chain mail. I don't think I'm ready to step it up yet into a heavier armor set. OK, that's like medium armor, I think. Yeah. So let's let's let's let's let's get you. Because I was also thinking about buying a shield, too, but we'll see how much armor costs. OK, OK. So here's what we're going to do. Let's get you. I'll give you a few options. You got your standard chain mail armor, which is a plus one. It goes all the way up to plus three. Plus three is going to get expensive. Now, there's also specialty armors, necrotic resistance, poison resistance, lightning, fire, that type of thing.

But if you're looking for just a standard like, look, man, I'm just looking for a step up from what I got. You're looking for a chain mail armor plus one. And I would ask that you do me a favor. Roll a d10. I'll tell you how much it is. No problem. D10 is this one, I believe. Yep. OK, so I'm going to tell you right now, that is a four hundred dollar set of armor. Four hundred gold right now. Gifts are I made. Durable, tested tough. And this is for the plus one? Plus one. Shit. How much for a plus two? Is it like double the price? You think? Well, it's so a plus two is really.

It's quality stuff. It's kind of rare. OK. Yeah, you get. OK. It's rare material, stuff like that. So if you were to grab one of those, you're looking to spend around twenty two hundred gold. Yeah. And again, this is way cheaper than what you'd find it out in most of the world. OK. So what if I wanted to do a a plus one combo of chain mill and shield? You think that would run me about eight hundred? Let me give you an option here. I think I can hook you up with that today. Oh, fresh off the lot. Fresh off the lot. Six hundred gold. I'll do it. It's perfect. Boom. Do me a favor.

Subtract six hundred gold from yourself. Two hundred and five left. Very nice. Very nice. I think I'm good. Thank you. Not a problem. Anybody else? Are you going to do all that stuff in my character sheet with the plus ones and all that? I think it's just like two plus two AC overall. So I got you at a 20 right now. Was there more stuff? Oh, wait. Your shield. Did you get a bonus from something? I don't know. I mean, I was at 19, right? So I would guess that the armor plus one would give me plus one AC and the AC of the shield. Give me plus one AC. But I'd counting.

But if it's counting right, then it's fine to me. I got you. You're 21. Perfect. Taking up. Damn, that's a lot of AC. OK, anybody else? You want to go back to Varus real quick? Yeah, we can. OK. So let's start with that dagger. Right. The dagger would be priority one. Right. So they could offer you a few different styles. Obviously, you got your standard silver dagger, right? It's it's it's it's coated in silver. This is it's it's not a rarity to Loras silver. They also offered different packages, different metals, things like that, and they even have one carved from a dragon's tooth.

It has magic properties. I'm interested. So not only does this do standard dagger damage, but there's also an acidic value because this comes from a black dragon's tooth. So not only do you do one before damage piercing, you also do one D6 acid damage on top of it. Interesting. Nike. Now, obviously, that's going to be a bit more expensive. Yeah, that that goes into my next question. What's the price tag say for you right now? Yeah, 800 gold. He'd be holding this in his hand. Look down like he's looking down at it. Look back over to the party. And he sees Merrick and looks back down.

Deal. OK, you get a free grenade with that. Beautiful. And I know how you feel right now because I just purchased a full sized broadsword at Medieval Times. So I know what it's like. It's like I shouldn't. I shouldn't. I shouldn't. I really want to. So as soon as money kind of exchanges hands and you kind of straighten everything back, he immediately like stuffs that in a pocket that is not going to be stolen from. And then your but, you know, yeah, pretty much. And then doesn't talk about that again. And because he went a little pricey on that, he's going to look over towards the other cloud of ice.

In bite his lip. Like I'm going to see what I can do. OK. All right. And then he'll walk out. OK. Anybody else? I would like a sickle and sword upgrade on it. And of course, it's all his gift. Let's get you what kind of what kind of sword you're looking for? Short side. Yes, it has to be one handed. I actually I think I might be able to upgrade to a two handed weapon in one hand now because it's two weapon fighting, but I don't think so. So are you looking for a short sword plus one? Is that what you're going for? Yeah. Like not. I don't know what the price on that is.

Because right now my short certainly does like one D six plus four damage and I'd like to do more of that. The sickle to the sickle only does one D four plus four. And that sucks. And you're a dual wheel to that's that gets a price. If only we had a free long sword in a box that we worked hard to get something. Yeah, I have a grenade. That I can't tell you how I got it. Rick, where'd you get a hand grenade? They were buying something, get one free like chicken nuggets. Do I have to go buy an extra hand grenade? I'll make that work. I have to go talk to Ellora.

Is that their business model? They just give away one free hand grenade with each purse purchase because Aveline didn't get his hand grenade yet. It's for special items like it's like that dragon dagger is probably been sitting there for a while. It's like, hey, I'll tell you what, I'll sweep the pot. And it's silver, too. Hold on. So much did you spend there? You don't know anything. I know I'm asking you as a character. I mean, as a player, I'm just curious. I spent all but 23 of my gold. I like that. It's like if I spent more than you, then I would have a damn grenade.

I mean, you're getting something to protect your life. Protect all of us. That's true. That's very true. Grenades are great for home defense. Exactly. We're still talking about the grenade here. Yeah. And it has silver fragments in it. That's what's going on. So here's the thing for a short sword right now. Plus one, 300 gold. I can hook you up with a short sword plus two for 1300 gold right now. Too rich for my blood. That's way too rich for my blood. But I'll take the 300 gold one. Sure. Any news on that sickle? I got you. Same thing for the sickle, though. I can give you a vicious sickle for 700 gold.

And every time you roll a crit, you deal seven extra damage. Problem is, I can't afford that. So just upgrade for the two? Yes, please. On it. So that would bring me... 600 gold. 600 gold. Okay. So I still have 200 gold. Zalu's present. What you looking for, for Zalu? I don't know. But for I think... What does Zalu use as a weapon? Zalu usually uses a big fucking hammer. Like a two-handed hammer. Oh, that sounds expensive. It is. What about... Just dip it in silver. That's just his new solution to everything? Exactly. Dip it in silver. I'm slowly convincing everybody to silver their weapons, just in case.

Just in case something happens. You never know. Yeah. I mean, it's never happened before. Absolutely not. See, the thing is, I don't think they're at the stage where, like, she'd actually go ahead and buy something meaningful, like a necklace or something. So, I don't know. A hammer sounds really expensive. I don't think she could afford it. Yeah, you don't want to come on too strong. Right. Like, a new weapon would have been cool, because it's like, "Hey, this is useful." And like, "I'm helping." But like... Hmm. Maybe not then. Maybe she should just like, kind of trail behind Zalu.

And like, clearly waiting to see if Zalu picks something. But if she doesn't, then... Just end it there. So, I'll give you an option for something. Hmm? Um... Give me a D100. Ooh! I know how to do that. With this percentage. I knew it! See, does Zalu like turtles? Because that would really help. I like turtles. Here we go. I like turtles. 80. 80, 80, 80, 80. I don't even know what table we're rolling on right now. Oh yeah, don't worry about it. So... [Laughter] So you're going to see three items. One is a bottle of perfume. That is labeled 30 gold. Mm-hmm. The other is a necklace made of these... they look like pearls, but it looks like there's kind of a glow to them.

Like, if you look really close, there's almost like a red swirl to them. Like they're moving, almost. Um... and then a set of pipes. Pipes? Like, pan flute pipes. Oh! And these are all things that Zalu like, looked at at some point? At some point, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like kind of window shopping with you guys. And they're all things that are fairly cheap within the shop. Mm-hmm. See, I feel... hmm... I am stressing about this. Like I am shopping for my actual girlfriend right now. Mm-hmm. I'm like, "Oh, but if I get the perfume, that might be insulting." Like, that's not cool, because like, what if you think that you're smelly or something?

That's rude. But I don't want to assume that you know how to play the pan flute. Because like, what if you don't? Then that's a dumb gift. So... necklace? You do necklace? I'm thinking necklace. Especially if it's like all swirly and pretty, because like maybe there's some sort of magical protection on it. Mm-hmm. Yeah, necklace. Okay. But she won't give it to her yet. She's gonna hold on to it. Okay. And this is almost stuff that's been sitting in the clearance rack type of thing. Like it's like, "Oh, yeah, that? Uh, 150 gold." Mm. Okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. Good.

All right. That is an expensive clearance. It went from 30 gold for one of the things to 150 gold for the other thing. That's fine. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you look in your inventory. Oh, wait. What am I looking at here? The second Clara touches this item... Oh my god! She's gonna be like, "Oh, oh, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second." I know what this is. This is a drow crafted item. Hmm. Would you like to tell the group? Yeah, share with the class. Um, all right. So Clara recognizes this, clearly. Um, this is called a necklace of fireballs.

And it's incredibly fucking dangerous and maybe she shouldn't give it as a gift to someone. Oh god, those are so dangerous. Mandy knows. Yeah, Mandy knows. Oh, I know so well. So quickly splurge for the perfume real quick. Just, just throw it at her. I've done this before too. Yeah, so yeah, no, I want that. Oh my god. Okay, that's... Mm. Maybe I won't give that to her. I mean, Zalu could probably be trusted with it more than, for instance, someone who might just chuck it. But, you know, we'll see. Everybody at home, look up necklace of fireballs and you can see.

All right. I mean, you can kind of guess by the title. It does what it says on the tin. It definitely does, yeah. It's like spring-loaded snakes on the Discord. Anybody else? Sorry, I coughed into my coffee. Mm? Um, I had a question. I know it's not like a specific item and it's more of a meta thing than anything. Really? Being that Elareth does not wear traditional armor, I was wondering is there anything like an amulet or a bracelet or something that she could wear that might increase her constitution or something? Just make her a little tougher without being obvious.

Uh, let's see what I got. Anybody else while I'm looking this stuff up? Okay. While all the buddies are like melee guys are all up in the weapons and stuff and just like, yeah, that's whatever. She's going to see if there's any books or magical items or anything that, oh, you know, has to do with Vecna or necromancy, I guess. Maybe. Anything? Well, books are going to be hard to find here. That's a drawback of the area. Yeah. Now, magical items. There's a few of those on the shelves here and there, mostly on the Gith's Arise side of the store. Was there something specifically you were looking for?

Oh, me know. Raisin Dead. Maybe. Mm. Mm-hmm. Control undead. Let me see what I can do. So, Alaraf. Yes. Give me a flat D10. Okay. Son of a bitch. Okay. Is that good or bad? It's good. Trust me. Okay. Do you hear me die a little? I'm expecting something bad. If you were willing to part with 1500 gold right now... What? Hold on. I could give you something called an Amulet of Health. Your Constitution score is 19 while you wear this amulet. It has no effect on your score other than that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So... It would increase your Constitution to 19. What the fuck?

Would that be plus... Plus four. Four? Okay, sorry. I had to do math. I was like, wait a minute. You're at an 11 right now. Yeah. Yes, she is. Oh, that's pretty nice. It's a big jump. I was gonna say, you are in control of the petty money. Okay. Oh, that's so selfish though. There's nothing like in between there? Nah, I'm afraid not. Damn it. Your healer would be very happy. It's not selfish. It's not selfish if you don't tell anybody. That is what they say. I have heard that somewhere. Okay, how much... Okay. I'd like to think... Okay, so there was petty cash and that was supposed to be used for like restocking the ship.

I know, I have little things that would pop up, you know, flat tires. Okay. Oh my god, I really want it. Lisa really wants it. Do it. Oh my god. I really do, but then at the same time, like this is like, oh, she would just feel so guilty. Treat yo self. Faire is starting to walk your direction. Look, okay, Lisa. Okay. Did group B decide to like not do any of the cool shit that they got? Like, oh man, it feels like too much. They didn't do that. Took fucking everything. That's true. Take it, take it, take it. That's true. She'll probably actually... Okay. She's gonna take it, but she's gonna need a little convincing, especially if Varis is already walking up to her.

So she'll probably like have it in her hand and just be like really waffling on it. Because like she wants it and she is a very... Oh, I don't know what the word I'm looking for. Most of the time she... Indeficence. She's like, is that or I was going to say spontaneous, but like not when it comes to money because she's never really had a lot of money. Yeah. So she's like, now that I have some. So that's what you see when you walk over. Oh, that looks cool. What's that? Oh, I think it's supposed to make you a little bit tougher. Looks pretty neat, though, don't it?

Yeah, it's all shiny. How much is it? A lot. You should get it. While we're on that note, I need a little bit of money. Oh, what are you getting? A weapon. Something that it it it like goes in front of my fist. I've never seen one of these things before. It's like in front of my fist with like little claws that if I just do my same punch, but then arc down a little bit, it's like a thousand little cuts. That sounds awesome. Exactly. For the small price of 600 gold. Jesus. (Laughter) Well, I don't know if she'd be smart enough to ask what happened to your other gold, because I don't know if she'd know that they all had 800.

You know what? You know what? I think that we're going somewhere we've never been. Mm hmm. So I think that you should get your claws and I should get this shiny thing. I agree. And it's it's an adventure. We don't know what to expect. So anything that could help us out. Right? Right. She still feels a little bit bad about it, but now she's like sheepishly grinning like, yeah. And there's just like, all right, all right. And just like hold out his hand for the cash. Wow. Ah, OK. And she just hands it over. I like. Just like gives a thumbs up and be like, do we tell the other people about this?

We're telling them about this, right? We're telling. Yeah. OK, thumb up and run back. She'll probably find like whoever's around there, whether it's, you know, Merrick or Evelyn or something. And just, you know, just let them know, just be like, I would like to get this. And it would mean taking stuff out of the party cash. I want it. I want it. Well, looking at them with like partially like. Please. You. You're the captain. Uh. Merrick shrugs. I agree with Merrick. Aye aye, captain. He just looks around and Maris isn't there to do the swoop first, so he just kind of does it.

He's not even we're on land, we're on sea weather rules. She'll like do it like quick thing, and then she'll kind of scamper back there, too. And she will definitely want to see that hand grenade at some point. Oh, yeah, he's. So going back to the store, he would make that purchase. And then when he goes back to the party, he would be like, oh, yeah, I got these these two things. I got this set of claws and I got this hand grenade. It came free with it. So what this is, is an is a small iron ball with a fuse in it, and you can hear things rattling around.

What it does is you light it and throw it and it explodes kind of like a bomb. But the entire point of it is that it fragments and sends little metal splinters everywhere and shreds the organs of your enemies. Beautiful, nice. Amazing. Christ. That's very dangerous. I. One. Love it. So. Guys. I think that's a good time for us to stop for tonight. What we're going to do the next time is we're going to sit down and we're going to explore any more of Westport that you want. And then we're going to get back in your ship and really continue on to Kodai. Hey, congratulations, everybody.

Thank you, Jasper. Just telling. Just took your soul. OK. Was it worth it? Yeah, we don't know about anything of that. Yeah, worth it for us. It's brilliant. Absolutely. This trip's been so good so far. I still feel really bad. Is any reason to with my new shiny. And we have several cannons now. Oh, and I mean, we've always had several. No, it's just like the boat back there at the port. It just doesn't have them and it doesn't look like it's good anymore. Jason, could I get that thing? You said it's an amulet of health. Yes. OK. Yes, yes, yes. OK. I feel like I feel like Merrick should have gotten something while we were shopping.

I can I got a couple of things that Merrick would want to do, not not so much like weapon shopping, but he probably wants to buy something. I got a couple of things that Merrick would want to do, not not so much like weapon shopping, but he probably want to look for some some food stuff. That can be very easy in the beginning. Maybe some some leaf leavings or bean leavings. Totally. For some reason, I pictured Merrick just kind of like following the group, not being in the lead, not even being in the middle of it, just following the group. From from not too far away and just having a smile on his face of like, you know, they're out doing their things of like what could have been versus what's happening now.

And they're alive, you know, and just kicking in the situation so much better. I really hooked Clara up standing back, arms crossed like that's a wingman and a half. Yeah. Holy shit. Oh, there's your khan. Look at that. Can I also say that, like one of the draw, could it be like a holy symbol of a vandra on it? Yeah, sure. Yeah, that would have cost you probably thirty five to forty five hundred gold. Holy crap. On the mainland. OK. I travel sometimes. I'm so not used to good things happening that I can't really process a lot of it. Like even like as I looked at that necklace, I was like, oh, shit, like that was my first reaction.

And it's poison, right? You can already kill this. And Zalu is a demon, right? What's happening? Come on. But a sexy one, so. I mean, yeah, whatever. Orca is sexy. Orca is really sexy. She's embodied self. I hope you guys really enjoyed today's episode. We've been getting a ton of feedback and it looks like this month's extended rest is going to be a big one. We hope you guys can join us live for that. Keep an eye on our social media to make sure you have the exact date and time correct. In the meantime, make sure to join our Discord server at patreon.com/dandr along with getting a ton of cut content for five dollars.

There's also going to be a slew of new content and shows coming in the new year. We'll be refreshing everything and giving it a new coat of paint. And we really want your guys feedback on everything. Thank you all so much. We hope you guys enjoy your holiday season and we'll be back later in the month with extended rest to wrap everything up and get your opinions on this month's episodes. Bye guys.