Know your Role

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Previously for group A, after laying Ubo to rest in the mountains, letting him watch the sunrise one last time, the group with one party member shy descended the hilltops and found themselves next to a glade with rare and valuable flowers. After a seemingly avoidable fight with hill giants, the group emerged victorious, if not a bit bruised and beaten. And that's where we pick things up today. Let's do that thing! We'll be going to the table to introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Kelsey. I'm Kelsey, and I play Aster, the elephant archer.

And Michael. I'm the always nearly dead half-elf wizard. And James. Hi, it's James, and I play as Noma-Soka, the half-elf rogue. And Xavier. Hey, I'm Xavier, and I play Donovan Weiss, the human fighter? Question mark? And last and certainly not least, Susan. Hey, I'm Susan, I play Madeline Ryoin, the human cleric. It's always interesting when we haven't played for a couple of months because there's that ring rust we all need to shake off. It's like, what do I play? I'm a half-elf stabby guy. Stabby McStab. Let me share a map with you guys. It's not for fighting, calm down.

It's just... I didn't say no nothing. I've been hit many times. I have all the health in the world, it's fine. Okay, a lot of you have expelled spell slots, and you have been hit a bunch, but you did get through this valley of hill giants. So, congrats, because there's just large bodies strewn about. Now, are we the blue circle, or are we the black mesa-scribbles? I don't know who did that. That's where we fought the slavers. That's where... Oh, interesting. Okay, let me remove... Oh, I can't remove that, so that's just there. Drawing? Can I remove? What you're saying is we can draw the map.

Clear drawing. Here we go. Maybe. There we go. Okay, we did it. Okay, you know what, I'm going to draw a nice little circle for you guys now. You've earned it. You have evolved to a circle. So, you are in the blistering peaks. You buried a friend, you got some rare flowers, and thanks to Clifford, you killed a small band of hill giants. I like your perspective on that. Well, I may have a bias, but... So, a lot happened in that fight, and it's been two months since we sat down, but I have a feeling you might want to say a thing or two before you just kind of pick your things up and move out of this valley.

So, let me paint a picture. The last hill giant falls down, and the ground just shakes beneath your feet when these giant corpses tumble over and just slam deadweight on the ground. I believe there were four of them in total, maybe more, but you are out of danger, and there's that weird calm that happens after the last body falls. It's like, boom! And then you're all just like... You get a heavy panting, but you don't hear any more movement. What would you like to do? By the way, Clifford's going to have this ear-to-ear smile. He's so proud. He thinks he's just slam-dunked this entire encounter.

He's like, "I've proven that I am a member of this team now. I'm just as good as Masoka." Is he on top of one of the giants? I would like to think when the last body falls down, he's going to put a foot up Captain Morgan-style on one of the ankles. It's still a little high for him, so it looks awkward, so he's kind of craned back at a 45-degree angle, but he's got fists on hips. He is over the moon. Donovan's going to look around at everyone to see the state of everyone after this fight, because he wants to give an earful to Clifford, but he'll try to assess who else wants in on this.

Amvin popped back out of invisibility, right? I was going to say, Amvin pops and appears and looks disheveled. He looks a little hurt, but considering he was healed, he's still a mess. He's dirty. He got clobbered by some hill giants. Yeah, he appears. Near you, actually. Oh, that's convenient. Canonically, does it actually make a popping sound when he comes up? Like, when he hits the... Does he just... I want it too. Only as long as it doesn't give me disadvantage when I pop it. You're fine, I guess. No, that wasn't a trick. It's more just for playful... He can turn it off if he needs to.

He can go in silent mode. I'm not a fixer tool that I just... In case you need to go see a movie or something, it's like, put your invisibility on silent. Maddie will probably make eye contact with Donovan, and you can see that she's glaring, and then she'll look over to Clifford, like, hmm? But then she'll just plop down and start praying, and this sounds familiar. She's doing prayer of healing so everybody can get healed because we're all very injured except for Clifford. That's the one that takes, like, ten minutes, right? Yeah, it takes a while. Yeah.

So, Clifford's going to be looking at Maddie. And I don't know if this has happened enough that he's completely familiar with how your powers work. I don't think he's been around too many clerics. So, I think he's probably going to think that this is your process. It's like, oh, after a big fight, she's got to take a few seconds. It's like, it's like yoga. You've got to decompress. I get it. And he's like, yeah, practice some self-care, whatever. So, he is going... And I'd like to point out that we did the most damage to these things, haven't I? Yeah, no. Did he get hit at all?

I don't think he did. No. God. Oh my god. He's going to be insufferable. I'm so sorry, guys. Oh my gosh. He has one more health point than I did. You have less HP than a twelve-year-old! Twelve-year-old vampire! Okay, let's... No, no, no, no, no, no. We're not three of us. But who can stand in the sunlight more? Jesus. Okay, so is that twelve health to everybody? That's my modifier because I'm casting this at fourth level. Got it. So I'm going to add that to it. I mean, there's more than enough for me. So Clifford's just going to... He is going to kind of erupt after a bit.

That was amazing! You all did so well! I can't believe we took those things out! Alright, Donovan's going to dart for Clifford. I assume Ahsoka's not too far either. Oh, yeah. If you... Okay, go ahead. So as he walks, he's going to wipe the blood on his face or whatever, put his weapons back in their sheets, and crack his neck. Like, just... Clifford's? Oh, no, yours. Okay. Bye-bye! That doesn't kill him, so he just has a broken neck forever. Oh, no. And he'll just stop next to Clifford, kind of cross his arms, and he'll look at both him and Ahsoka and go, "What did I say before we got into this fight?" And I think he's going to look to Ahsoka.

It's like, "Are you talking to Ahsoka or me?" Because I think the tone probably surprised him. I think he thought everyone was going to be like, "Yay! A fight! We won!" And you are not that. So he's like, "Oh, no." Like, he's like, "Yeah." I'm talking to both of you. He's going to swallow hard. Well, you said to run, but I thought that was because you didn't think you could take him. No, before the fight I said, "You don't attack until anyone tells you to." I also said, "You stay back and let Madi and me be up front, because otherwise that makes my work a lot harder." Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Why are you dragging me into this? I didn't start that fight. Look, man, when we brought a child into this group, I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but now that we have two in the group, it's a hell of a fight. The kid jumped in the fight and I went to save him. He's, um... Clifford's going to, like... Not for nothing. He's like, "Whoa, whoa, kid." Like, you know, I think... I think I did pretty good. And he's going to point to all his little stab marks and stuff. [laughter] I mean, you know, I... No, no, no. You shut your mouth right now. Oh. Oh. He's going to march right up to Clifford, and if it's accessible, he's taking Toppo away from him.

Oh. I... hmm. Okay, do you say shut your mouth? Yes. Absolutely. His expression is going to sour instantly. Hey, just because you couldn't hit anything in this fight, don't get bad at me. Alright, Donovan's going to interpose. He's going to stand in between the both of them. Okay, I see where this is going, guys. Gentlemen, just hear me out, okay? And he's going to drop to Clifford's high level, like, thick knee. Look, alright, for the time being, you lost my trust, but you've earned my respect, alright? Yeah, you fight really well. You fight really, really well.

Look, Cliff, when I was your age, I wanted to join the town guard in Aldmoor, alright? And... My dad wouldn't let me near them. He would get so angry when I would mention it, and I wouldn't stop telling him how much I wanted to be in the town guard. And he got so mad and frustrated, and we spent the rest of our lives yelling at each other. Look, what I'm saying is, I don't want to be my dad, he was a shitty dad, so I'm not going to tell you not to fight with us. I just want you to listen to us, because we have the experience. And no matter how strong you are, or how fast you can climb a giant, you might put us in danger.

And so... I'll give you another chance, but next time, man, just listen to us. Give me a persuasion check. Okay. Pass Keels. Oh, that was only 16. 15! Okay. He's going to take a breath. And he's going to fold his arms, because he's a little defensive, but not in a pouty way. He'll take a breath. Fine. I wasn't trying to get anybody hurt. I just wanted to do something. Yeah, no, totally. And you did. And again, you're good. You're just... Watch us and learn a little more before jumping in. Because there's more than just stabbing in this. So again, the moon's out bright, you're going to be able to see this valley and all the dead giants.

And he's going to give one last look to Masoka, kind of like... Okay. James, you play music. He's going to give Masoka the look that's like, "What happened to you, man? It used to be about the music. It used to be cool." And he's going to shake his head a little bit and walk away. Did Masoka get... I would say if you... Oh boy, would he be an asshole and try to keep it? Because if he didn't, he's going to get it now. Give me a Dex check. If it's 14 or higher, you're going to take it off his hands. Otherwise he's going to have it clenched in his bloody little fist. [clears throat] Shit, yeah, that's 24.

You're going to grab it. He's going to be... When you do, that's probably when he snapped at you. Like, you know, fucking kids. [laughter] So, yeah, no, that's probably... Doubled. He'll kind of give Donovan that, "Fine, yeah." And he's going to look at Masoka just like, "Man, sell out." And then just walk away. Okay, can that be when I grab it from him? Oh, yeah, no, I figured you grabbed it before Donovan started talking. Okay. Yeah. Are you going to hit him with it or something? No. That was a long pause. That was a long pause. [laughter] Here, let me grab it now.

Okay. He's walking away. I'm going to come up and grab it from him. [clears throat] You're not ready for this. You got lucky in there, but that was reckless, and we just lost somebody. Do you really think right now was the time to do that? Oh, boy. Give me a charisma check. Oh, fuck. [laughter] That's a six. This might escalate. He's... Yeah, I don't want it to. Like, he's, you know... Donovan's still nearby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, first of all, he's going to be pissed off that you took... You gave him something and then took it right back. Like, canonically, I think he's had it for a few hours or something.

Like, it was not long. And he is going to raise his voice a bit. A bit? I was just doing what you told me to do. Just... I... I don't get it. I did exactly what you would have done, and now I'm in trouble? Look, kid, I did not ask you to do what I do. I'm not a role model for you. We work as a team here. Everyone agreed to run. Look what you did. And look at us. You might have come out unscathed. Let me roll a die. Oh, man. [sigh] Okay. He is going to square up with Masoka. He's going to take a step forward. And I imagine Masoka's like a good 8 to 12 inches taller than him.

Like, I don't think Masoka's this towering figure, but... You know, Glyphrid's a little small for a 12-year-old. Yeah, you're not a role model. My role model would hit something in a fight. And he is yelling loud enough that it's probably reverberating a little bit in the valley. And he's going to be pointing at one of the hill giant corpses. I'm debating if he would go further. Donovan would speak up and say, "You two keep your voice down or there's going to be more of them coming up for us." Look, if you want to hang out with us, you do what you're asked to do.

I think he's just going to clam up. Like, I think he's going to... Now he's kind of pouty. Like, you could tell... Just that impotent rage that I... It's very 12-year-old, where it's like, "Yeah, I'm really angry. I can't do anything about it. I have no authority here. I have..." And he's got nowhere else to go, and it's all just terrible. So he is going to... Probably just clam up and go off by himself a little bit. Not leave the party, but just walk away from Masoka. Okay, he'll let him walk away. Being a parent's tough. We'll talk again. [laughter] So, Maddie's been praying.

Okay, so meanwhile... [laughter] Everybody's wounds are slowly closing up. Yeah, so after Aster gets back some help, they are going to stand up from where they were laying on the ground. From where they had fallen because they were injured. And they are going to walk towards Anthony. And they do not look happy. Is this a totally new sensation for Aster? For Aster? Is this like... Canonically, would you say that this is the first time Aster's been knocked clean out? No. No? Okay, but it's been a while. Yeah, it's been a while, and it's... The whole thing with the fire and everything too, it's like a lot just happened for them.

And, oh, a convenient outlet for all my emotions. Remember, he only has 23 hit points. Don't hit him. Uh-huh, uh-huh. [laughter] Mattie has a resurrection now, it's fine. It could kill me. If it was Clifford, you could go all out, but not Anven. Could doesn't mean will. I rolled a practice roll, and... never mind. It didn't look well. It didn't go well for me. So yeah, Aster is like... Like, how far away was Anven? He said that he was close to them. Yeah, I think I was actually right next to you. Because I was actually planning to give you a health potion. Oh, okay.

So in that case, they stand up and they're just like, glaring at him. And, hmm... So they're gonna like... I don't know what I would need to roll for this or something, but they're gonna try and do a maneuver to basically sweep his feet out from under him. Like, knock him on the ground. Oh. We're sweeping the leg. Do you wanna do a reaction? Okay, you know what? Here's what we'll do. I think this calls for initiative. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Stop it. Here's what we do. Give me... Uh, give me a Con save. Anven. Okay. Yeah. I feel like... It'll trip Anven up a little bit, but he'll be fine.

He won't fall down. What was that for? Yeah, no, they're really still all up in it. I think if that doesn't work, they're just gonna punch him. Oh my god. Wow. Okay. Roll an attack, I guess. Like an unarmed attack. And this is wild with the conversation with Clifford going on. Also, Maddie is healing everybody, which is really... That's the part that really I think is pretty funny. How does Maddie concentrate in all this? I'm just like, "Keep it down." This is a real test for her. I am not gonna try to stop it at all. I'm gonna let it hit me. Oh my god. Okay. Okay, so what do I do?

I don't know how this works. Well, okay. This is just a punch in the face. And you don't have like a barroom brawler feet or anything like that. You're pretty dexterous. So one hit point. They're not trying to actually like, mortally wound him. Right. No. No, no, no. But that doesn't mean you won't, because it's Anven. So, like, just close fist. Bam. Right in a mush. One point of damage. Awesome. I guess that's after Maddie heals everybody. I mean, it can be during, but it starts to heal back up. I can heal him for more than what he had. Okay, fine. You know what? You're gonna hit him, and his lip's gonna swell up, and then it's gonna unswell.

And then this light comes over him. They're not really bothered by that. That wasn't the point. Still hurts. Yeah, exactly. And Maddie's thinking in her head, "Why am I even healing anybody?" Okay, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Astor is like, healing up, but still probably a fair bit of blood. But yeah, they're just still glaring at Anven and just... What the fuck was that? Surviving. We just survived something that... I don't think many people could. I was already out first round. I barely even saw anything. That's not... You don't just whip out something new in the middle of a battle.

Tell people about it beforehand so we can plan around it. That's strategy. Come on, you're supposed to be the brains person. Wait. All I did was create a wind to try to prevent them. And they're just winking a little bit at him like, "Is he trying to..." You talking about the fire? No, I'm talking about the whole invisibility bullshit. The whole, "Oh, I'm gonna turn invisible and then run around and cast spells next to my allies so that the big giant things with not good brains that are swinging at us will hit them instead. Because they don't know to expect it." Obviously, I thought we were ranged.

And you barely get hit with ranged. We were literally surrounded. Well, at that time, they were more with Donovan and crew, which is where I was trying to lead them to create a cone. And I did give a strategy to Donovan. Unfortunately, everything was such a cluster that there was no strategy because of, and I'm gonna glare at Clifford, certain party members. Don't drag him into this. Looks like Clifford who's currently being reamed out. Yeah. Meanwhile... Now, I went invisible because all I could think of after getting hit once and blacking out, which I never want to have again.

I've already blacked out and disappeared for several days before this. Yeah, it's called dying. Yeah. It sucks. Now you know a little bit of the fear I have. Oh my god. And they actually like, like, like, laugh a little bit at that, but not in like a funny haha kind of way and just... Oh, that's scary. I'm more upset now laugh. No, just like a, like, like kind of bitter and also like, still like frustrated kind of like just like, like, like, just kind of like he's clearly not getting it. Kind of thing. If I didn't go invisible, if I didn't try to corral and prevent and slow and I stayed and then he hit again and I died, maybe Donovan would have died.

Maybe they, you know, maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt. Is that what the outcome we're looking for? That's not what I'm saying. It's not the point is not that I don't care that you went invisible like yeah okay cool that's a good tactic whatever you're squishy and you'd fall down after getting like pinched. The point is that you if I had known beforehand. And then I probably would have been able to work around it, but it's, we are a team we're a party we work together we can't do that if we don't know what other people are going to do or what they can do, like turning invisible or and they kind of like glance over at Maddie who is still like involved in her stuff just like very giant fireballs around hidden forest.

There you go. You can work you guys can argue now. We're in a valley just saying, okay, just been invited. Who does Clifford get to yell at. He already yelled at the so good. That's true. He did. Yeah. It's retaliatory. Me, I know what it's like to live with the fear of death around the corner every single day. Just, there are ways to make it less likely to actually happen. And what happened back there was a clusterfuck. Yeah, we were surrounded. No matter I don't think anyone's plan or strategy worked out. I mean, it was pretty much five and I will apologize for getting you involved like that, and getting it him coming towards us.

Obviously, I think we all mistook their ability and the numbers and all acted out of reaction and not planning. So I'll give you that. That's what happens, though. I mean, all the time thinking on the fly like that's what we have to do. That's what life is. And they're always going to be stuff that we don't know about beforehand. But hey, a heads up that, oh, hey, guys, I figured out I can do this thing now. It might happen during the next fight, just so you're aware, would be nice. That's all I'm saying. Well, I would have, but we were all kind of busy and I actually didn't expect that I have to use it because I thought we were just going to pick some flowers.

I literally said that there was probably going to be some dangerous stuff around here. That was absolutely a thing for the record. We did just kill a bunch of orcs or tried to kill a bunch of orcs. I didn't use it then. I didn't think we would need that and we didn't have any of the strategy of ahead. I don't even know all the things you can do. I shoot arrow. Is that really? I mean, I don't know, Aster. I don't know you as well as I think. I don't think we all know each other as well. We should, especially with all this new stuff coming. So you're right. We all need to communicate better.

What in the world is Clifford going to get us into next? What can Masaoka do other than crazy dexterous leaps to kill things and talk to gods? You know, I mean, Donovan, I mean, there's so much going on. I don't think we've communicated about much at all. Yeah, I think we're all playing into their chest. And if anything, this has just proven that we need to talk more. Now, we should probably find a way to get what we want out of this and get to somewhere safe before something else gets us. Yeah, but they're not done over there yet. We've got to wait till Maddie to finish up anyways.

And I'm going to put my arm out for shake. Let's start over. And they'll kind of raise an eyebrow at that. I don't think he wants to go that far, but they will take his hand and give it maybe a little bit more of a firmer squeeze. That is totally necessary. But that's still fine. Remember, I'm supposed to be the diplomat. See, that wasn't so bad. Yeah, but that was the outcome that they wanted. So they are happy. Perfect time to introduce a new party member. Everything's going really well. So there's plenty of nighttime left, guys. Do you want to keep going?

I feel like we should leave. Yeah. Leaving is okay. Oh, wait, we should... Oh, yeah, we travel at night now, don't we? Yeah. Is there anything valuable? What, do you run the giant's pockets? Well, I probably don't have pockets. I'm not putting my hopes up that high. I don't think they've invented them yet. I mean, they got nature's pockets. Is there a body part or something? Do hill giant gall bladders, are they useful as some sort of potion something? I don't know. I figure we might as well check, since we have four hill giant bodies. Or is there some sort of bounty that towns will pay for?

I don't know. I would like to put forward a motion. How heavy are portal checkers? I would like to put a proposition down where we just leave the carcasses alone from now on. They don't all need to be old Claudius or a Strada. I feel like that's the vegan in you, but it's a fair point. New year, new me. Wasn't all these flowers supposed to be worth a lot? So I think we should be collecting those. Oh, I figured you... Well, hill giants are pretty difficult to kill, so if there's something rare that they have that could help people or something, I just figured we want to check.

Well, I don't want to be an asshole, but they weren't bothering anybody, so there's no bounty on them. Just family pictures. Just family pictures. There's a lot of little hill giants that, well, no one's coming home to them tonight. I mean, little is subjective. They don't have a key for a safety deposit box in their wallet or something? No, I'll tell you what's going to happen. So, okay. Clifford's going to walk up to one of the calves of the hill giants, and he's going to be making eye contact with Ahsoka. And he is going to bite into one of them, because it's like, "Hey, I'm hungry." But instantly, he's going to gag like, "Oh, God, that's terrible.

That's... bleh." In his head, "You know, bigger creatures have more blood. This will be delicious." "Oh, my God, that's terrible." So that somehow... You know that child logic of, "I'll show you," but there's nothing to gain from it? But yeah, no, he's going to embarrass himself slightly. Aw. Shall we keep going? Yeah, for sure. If Maddy had anything to add after her prayer, or as soon as she's done, we're like, "All right." The little go team, something like that? It's more so like, "Evil had your say, let's head out." Yeah, Donovan would be like, "Yeah, how was yours?" to Evan and Esther.

Like, "Did yours go good? Okay, I think we all got to unpack." "So let's just go to Dernhollow and unpack over there." Well, you guys are going to march until just before dawn, which will get you out of this valley and almost back to the main road. So I guess we're... Well, I guess, let me ask you a question. Are you going to continue to move at night? You mean during the day? Well, no, I mean, are you going to keep... Yeah. We're not that angry at Clifford. Okay. So you're going to take a nice long rest. Everybody gets a nice long rest. How about that? Thanks for the prayer, Manny.

You're welcome. I still had spell slots. So who's feeling lucky? I think Evan's got the luck of the roll. No, Evan made a roll last time that went very badly. I vote not-Amvin. It's true. I'm ready to give it to anyone else. You know what, Susan, you didn't get to yell at anybody last season. I know. Do me a favor. That's what happens when Maddy can't talk. Everybody yells at each other. Do me a favor. Give me a flat T20. All right, let's do this. Bam. 16. What's up? Good lord. So the seventh of Alta Orn. You're going to sleep through the day and another beautiful night.

It's a little misty out. It's just slightly damp, but fine walking weather. The one thing about moving around at night, it's a little more dangerous and all that, but it's it's a much more comfortable way to travel in terms of hot weather, especially when you guys are wearing layers and layers of armor and chainmail and all that crap. Like it's it's much more comfortable to walk around at night. So you guys are going to move completely unimpeded throughout the day or throughout the night here. And we're going to get you back to the main road. You're going to cross the river and get back to the main road here.

You are a little less than a day outside of Duran Hollow. And we're going to have you take another long rest. It'll be let's see, the seventh. So 16. That'll be good for two days, let's say so. Let's say on the eighth of Ulta Ornn after midnight, let's say somewhere in the area of, God, probably four, four thirty, somewhere in there. Like not too long before dawn. You're going to get to Duran Hollow. Now, the town's pretty dead right now. Like the only people up right now are farmers and stuff like that. And that's outside of the town's borders, really. They're out on the outskirts.

So do you guys just want to check into an inn? Or do you want to wait till the sunrise? How many people are out and about right now? What is the general vibe that we're getting here? Really friggin early. So like you'd see you'd see a couple of town guard walking around. It'd probably be the either really old people who would get up and probably have like a nice early breakfast, like you might smell a waft of like bacon or sausage, something like that. Or like maybe someone like a nice like a nice fruit medley type of thing, because some people like to start their day with just a big bowl of mixed fruits and berries and stuff.

Or make juice like fresh squeezed juice. So you are like you're going to smell that every once in a while. And then the next one's like, oh, wow, OK, I'm a little hungry. You know, other than that, it'll just be the odd person like getting ready for work or something like that. But the sun's not even out yet. Like it's pretty damn quiet. Is there a like tavern open? In Darenhollow? Always. Yeah, you have a choice. So there's the Honest Harlot and then there's Cherry Blossom Heaven. The Honest Harlot is, well, it's the Honest Harlot. Everyone knows the Honest Harlot.

It's a larger establishment. It is first and foremost a brothel, but they do they do serve food and beverages. There are rooms for rent, usually by the hour. But there are rooms for rent. Cherry Blossom Heaven is a little more of a rough and tumble establishment. A lot of gambling there, a lot of, you know, again, a brothel. But they they they cater to the specific needs of people. Which one's closer to us right now? Honest Harlot. OK. Masoka is going to excuse himself. And as he walks away, he's going to say, I need a drink. It is four thirty in the morning.

Yeah, but this has been stewing in his brain. He's got a hard time letting go. Oh, man. OK. Would you say the last couple of days it's just been pretty quiet in the group? Maybe like everyone's just kind of traveling, doing their thing, like probably not a lot of heavy talking. I think Masoka has been arguing in his own head about how he needs to talk to Clifford, but it's just not able to do for whatever reason. On the topic of Clifford, I think Astrid might like not like they're not probably going to talk to him. It just kind of like they might like start like showing him how like to use a bow or how they know how to like use a knife or something or lockpicks.

Just like like giving them a little bit of like companionship, because like when when they were older than him, they got reamed out like that for doing some stupid stuff. So they kind of know how it is. Just like. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He'll appreciate that just because I think just like any 12 year old, his circumstances are a little different. But I think just like any 12 year old, he's searching for like a place like what do I do? Like especially like he's in an adventuring party, but it feels like he's not allowed to be an adventurer. Like he doesn't know what to do.

He doesn't want to be baggage. But like, yeah, so, yeah, so every 12 year old needs to know how to take walks. It's very useful. It's very useful. Everybody listen. You hear that? So this this this brothel, there's only a there's only a couple of patrons in here. You're going to see you're going to see an elf in the corner passed out. Maybe looks like they drank too much. Like maybe they're coming down from an evening out like they're just like passed out. And you're going to see a dragonborn sitting at a table in the center of this establishment. Am I by myself?

I don't know. Gang? Well, yeah, this kind of like happened suddenly. If you head over to the on the starlet. Yeah. Donovan would probably be following you. But maybe like a couple of minutes after you went because you definitely tell the group, like, maybe we should get some rest before addressing the whole Donhurst situation to the survivors here. We'll have to we'll have to find whoever is in charge and ask them to gather people. And at this point, I mean, we've been like traveling all night. We're probably like all ready to just take a good nice sleep.

Yeah, actual beds. Yeah. Find yourself some nice rooms. I'm heading over to keep an eye on Masocha. Isn't that on this hard? In as well? Yeah. Yeah. So we'll all head over there, I guess. Yeah. By the hour. But just walking in like right before dawn, just looking like visibly like exhausted. So, Rob. Yes, I had to switch my microphone back on. You're sitting in the middle of this this this establishment and you're going to watch a troop of adventurers enter and they don't. They look like the road has been slightly unkind to them. Like maybe they're just getting in off a long haul.

Maybe they maybe they got lost, something like that, but they don't look like triumphant adventurers returning to town, like to celebrate by having some fun. They they look like it's like, just give me a bed and no one talk to me, please. Like that type of thing. What would your reaction be to that? If you have a reaction? Yeah. He kind of he kind of definitely like looks up from from whatever he's eating and drinking and and raises an eyebrow and observes them with interest. But he doesn't he doesn't necessarily like make it his interest to to introduce himself.

He just he just kind of takes them in for the moment. And yeah, like it's it's it's clear these are armed, capable people walking in. So he he just he starts by just leaning back and observing them while he eats and drinks. I tell Clifford to look at the floor. Thanks. So you guys are going to get some rooms and I'll charge after this. Don't worry about it. I just want to say that I'm assuming the party is going to split for four different rooms, but Donovan would be looking like specifically for the human woman and tiefling man from the other day if they're present.

And if not, that's fine. Well, you don't see him yet. I know. Wait, he'll be eating. He'll be eating and drinking before going to bed. Yeah. Just, you know, their shift might not start. Yeah. He'll wait for the other shift. That's OK. I'm going to bed. Yeah. He's not going to bed now. Yeah. I was just gonna say four thirty in the morning. You're getting to be team like it's not. Yeah. So I've been those better. So, yeah, you guys are going to get some rooms. And I would imagine that Clifford's going to draw shades and stuff like that and just kind of barricade the place.

So there's no sun coming in and you're going to get some sleep. Let's pick things up. Afternoon of the eighth. Now this place is bustling like anybody who is trying to sleep is probably it's a little tough because it's it's a rowdy crowd. It gets a little loud, not rowdy as in violent, but rowdy is in like there's music playing. There's there's lots of merriment to be had. Loud conversations, people kind of laughing like big belly laughs, hardly that type of thing. So this place is absolutely hobbin at this point. And then believe because you can't concentrate at all.

He's going to do the hilarious thing and ask if there is a library here. Well, kind of Spanish. It's kind of there's there's a school and there's like a tiny library attached to that. There's there's a lovely lady named Hazel who teaches in town. And yeah, there's like a little tiny book like I said, Book House. Jesus. Oh, my gosh. You know, it's the place where the books live. It's actually so then I will go see if this teacher is here because I don't know that her name is Hazel yet. Oh, OK. Yes. So in the afternoon, all the kids are are letting out and stuff like that.

And you'll see her. She looks infinitely patient, like, man, she looks like she might be in her late 20s, early 30s, something like that. Just really good around smaller kids. Almost like a daycare, almost. OK. Hi, my name is Anvin. It's probably going to take her just half a second. It's like I wasn't expecting there to be an adult around here. It's like, oh, hi, I'm Hazel. All right. She's going to stick her hand out and I'll shake it. I was told this is the only thing resembling academics here. I'm curious to see if you have any books about on a call at all.

She's going to kind of smile. Well, I I have a lovely pop up book, but I don't think that's why you're here. I actually might have something in my private collection. If you give me just a moment, you could follow me if you like. Absolutely. So she is going to like it's in the back of this establishment, like her little office, like they're actually be like I'm a set adult books, but that's not what I mean. Like books for people. Did she have to pull back a curtain? There's a beaded curtain like there's it's. Yeah. So, yeah, she's going to there's going to be a few books here and there.

Do me a favor. Let's let's go. Let's go nuts. Let's have some on a scale of one to ten. How useful would this be to Anvin? Give me give me a D10. Five. So this is probably a little more than you were expecting, but not as much as you were hoping for. You know, like it's one of those. I mean, my expectations are pretty low. Yeah. So this will be so it's probably before the fall. So it's a lot of it's a lot of sightseeing stuff. You know, the setup of the city. It's like, oh, you know, so like maybe a couple of maps or something. But obviously, a lot of these establishments are they've changed owners.

OK. I'm trying to find anything to do with the history or any knowledge about things happening and on a call. But if it's just maps or even in the area, I'm trying to dig up any books and try to do some reading with her guidance. She is going to kind of have an apologetic tone. That's that's all I really have. I've never actually been, but I had a brother who went there once. It was about five years ago. Was there something specific you were looking for? There's just some some fables and history. You know what? If you have anything on just either tales of magics or unknown things of like amazing things happen, even if it's even if it's just a fable, I'd be interested.

Give me a flat detail. All right. Here we go again. Oh, is that a D8? Consistent. She is going. She's going to think for a second. Well, I have a storybook that I read to the kids here and there, but I don't know how accurate it's going to be. There are a few magical tales in there, though. I'll take a look at it. I mean, some tales are rooted in a seed of truth. So she's going to leave her office and kind of grab, like kind of tug on Anvin's like shirt sleeve type of thing like this way. And that's probably because that's how she's used to dealing with kids.

It's like there might be a moment of like, oh, I'm sorry, like I was in work mode. And she's going to head out to the bookshelves in this this larger area where there's a bunch of chairs and desks and stuff. And there's a series of books on one of the shelves and there are these big tomes that are in different different colors. And she's going to pull a blue one off of the shelf. And there's there's kind of a picture of like a what looks to be kind of a portal looking thing, something like that on the cover. And she's going to start to tell you all about like it's a this one's all about teleportation and magic and transporting objects.

Like each one of these books have a theme. Interesting. And let's see. She is going to flip open a page and you are going to see this is kind of a rough sketch, but it looks like this desert that stretches on for miles. And it's a story all about how there is meant to be a way to travel anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye and how this this was lost for centuries. But it's told that one day someone is going to figure out this grand puzzle and just advance society by a millennia overnight. That type of thing. It's worded very grandiose. Of course.

Now, is she still in that work mode where she's like, here's the page and I'll turn it for you? Or is it like she probably would start reading it and then just like, I don't need to do that. I'm sorry. And just kind of hand you the book. Thank you. It's really uncomfortably loud back at the what I thought was a tavern. Do you mind if I just read here and take notes? And you're more than welcome to hang out, too. I'm not bothered by anyone in the academics. No, please. You could you could use my desk. That's the only regular sized chair. I appreciate that. Now, sit down and I guess investigate.

Really, just just try to pull what looks like potential leads from right things as as slim as I know this is. This is interesting. I want you. Give me an investigation. Yeah, let me let me see something here. Yeah, this is like it's really difficult to suss out what's complete fabrication and like punching stuff up to make it sound sexier. And what is like. But there are a couple of things strangely that line up with things, you know, like it talks about giant stone slab. And how it's told that it transports people to different places to forget. And the picture that is drawn looks eerily similar to what you saw in the White Ravens Cave.

OK, like eerily similar. There's that seed of truth. Yep. So didn't gain anything really new, but yeah, so still a thread. Everybody else, let's say you got some sleep. You're you're you're up. It's like four thirty in the afternoon, let's say somewhere in there. So Clifford still hiding. What's everybody else doing here? Donovan's just been I don't know how much he slept, but it was probably wasn't a lot, but he's been he's just been kind of like he started with one drink, maybe at eight or nine in the morning, and then I was like, OK, OK, I remember what this feels like.

I'll get another one. And now it's four and he's had many. Do you know what we could do? What can we do? Oh, my God. Do you know what we could do? What can we do? What kind of drink would he have early in the morning? So I could give you a list of drinks that you could choose from and there's whole mechanics. There's everything. Do you want? He's going for like a meal kind of drink, so probably ale. OK, I can hook you up. That sounds like an Alcorn Ale situation. That sounds like. I'm sorry, I was just excited because the early morning drink is the rise and shine.

That's true. And Jason made it for me. Oh, that's awesome. Well, he's I don't know if he's he's been drinking like before going to bed anyway, so. OK, OK, I know. I was just excited for a second. Let's go with the Alcorn Ale. OK, I'm still going to share this with you because I'm so fucking proud of like everything. It is so good. There you go. There's a whole food and drink section. There's recipes. It's it's it's wonderful. Tea. Nice. Oh, my God. Maddie's going to get some shopping done. Just a small thing specifically. She wants to get a short bow and arrows and two daggers for Clifford and some other stuff that I'll just send you a list of.

Oh, OK. Yeah, you don't have to make a mall shopping scene about it. Now he will be my mini me. He's so impressionable. Hey, Rob. Yes. So you're in Durin Hollow. Towns bustling. Where would you be? What would you be doing? Hmm. I feel like Skelnar is like he's he's kind of it sounds I mean, it sounds like obvious, like I'm a PC kind of thing. But it's like he's like he knows that to achieve his plans, he needs to not be going it alone. Right. Like that's just that's just how it is. So he's he's on the market. He's dating a little bit. He's looking to. Yeah, he's like he's sizing up people like I mean, part of the thing is like you look at a bunch of like rundown adventures coming into an end.

You look like they've been beaten within an inch of their lives and you don't necessarily know if that's the right crew to like introduce yourself to. Right. Like they look like maybe they haven't done so well. Maybe maybe they're unreliable. It's a weird crew for sure, because they're carrying a 12 year old with them. There's you know, it doesn't look ripped, but at the same time, there is something to be said for. Awesome. Thank you very much. Sorry, I love you. I mean, I guess I guess what I'd ask first is in the intervening time since I saw them, have any better adventures come through?

You know what? You just keep swiping left. Wow. Yeah, that's the problem. Give me a flat D20. All right. This is fucking great. We saw a robs character. He was there and then he was gone. It'll just be you guys together in a single call with like random other people that are all NPCs. Yeah, on the upside, the world's never been in better hands with these new NPCs here. These A-listers. Wow. Okay. Well, we closed off that timeline. Jesus. Yeah, no, you're going to say there's one other group that goes through town and one of like there's a dude missing an arm. They are carrying a body.

Yeah, they're definitely carrying like they're... Oh, it's group B. Yeah. That's group B. So like they're going to be coming through. They look real sad. So there is, here's the thing. I think upon first glance, if you're looking to, if you're looking to, you know, get into something with a new group, you might, you might want to shy away initially from the group that looks all like just pounded in the dirt and sad. But it's a fully functional group that's alive. So at least, you know, they can kind of handle that. Like you, you could assume it's like, well, I mean, they're not missing arms and shit like those guys like that.

And it does look like they're wearing some decent gear. So they've been around the block. It's not like, I guess it's like, okay, you ever tune into a YouTube channel and you could tell that they're just getting started? Like it's like they got a crappy camera. They don't know what their setup is. They don't know how to edit. And it's like, okay, they might get there one day, but I'm looking for someone a little more established. Like that was directed at me. It was not. But like, you know, they got some shiny armor, they got some nice weapons there. It looks like they had a bad day.

They all got their limbs and stuff and they're confident enough to carry a child with them. Yeah, yeah. I would hope that child has been delivered safely to Durinhala where that child will then stay. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure that's the last we've seen of that child. I don't know if that's any value to your character. What's your name again? Your character's name again? Skal'narr Hisk. Skal'narr. Perfect. I don't know if this is of any value to Skal'narr, but two members of this party have a tabard, a monitor. I don't know if that would change anything for you.

He's aware of a monitor, but it's pretty much neutral information. It's either good nor bad. So Skal'narr's going to pass on the Durinhala hang dogs or whatever that NPC crew is. I love them. I guess what has happened is Skal'narr has decided of the two adventuring groups that he has seen pass through Durinhala, group A is in fact the best group of adventurers in at least a handful of miles. So perhaps he should bite the bullet and not keep shopping around. You're that guy as you did it! Best one of two. Rob reluctantly rejoins his own group. So what is everyone else up to as we speak?

You said it was a school or I missed some of the details. Oh, you're in a brothel. No, but where Amven is. Oh, yeah, that's not a brothel. That's a children's school. Yeah, he went to a children's school and they had good books, but that's not a place that Skal'narr would hang out. So what are the rest of you up to? If you're on your way out of the brothel, Donovan is still there. Not getting rowdy, but you know. Yeah, Mistoka is still there. Getting social. I kind of like to think he hadn't drank in quite a while. Like really drank. So he might be like dancing on the tables by now.

I don't know. Something like that. Do you want to see? I do. Maybe Donovan is holding his hair. We don't know. Maybe he's holding his hand dancing with him. Oh, also. On a scale of flash to trash, how do you handle your alcohol? Oh, man. Let's see if he's wearing pants, too. So, OK, what's your conscore? 13. Oh, that's good. OK, so are you drinking hard liquor? Like, are you doing shots? I think when he first went in, it was like, give me a shot, give me a beer. OK. And then he just probably kept doing that. Oh, boy. OK. Ah, the dual-wield special. So you're just trying to...

He's drink attacking himself. Put it in the book. I'm going to say in the book, what we've done is essentially everyone has drinking hit points, right? And it's based on your conscore. So Mistoka is not a huge burly dude. So if he's drinking shots and continually drinking, it's going to degrade that score over time. Not your actual conscore, but those drinking hit points. I'm going to say that's going to take you down to a five. So at this point... He did used to drink maybe borderline excessively, but it's been a while. He hasn't since he was resurrected.

OK. So it's been... Yeah, so, OK. I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. Give me a constitution save. All right. Fantastic. Oh, man. OK, good. You did good. Any less than that, you would have passed out. So the room is spinning for you. And you're at the point where you are definitely slurring words. Keeping a train of thought is difficult. It's... You're pretty gone. It's very where he wants to be. Good. And so Donovan is babysitting this in some way? Yeah, he's keeping an eye on him, like putting a hat on his face just to... So people don't see his state, but like just checking on him, just like making sure he stays put while trying to engage people in conversation.

He's having a good time. He probably has his hood up, so his red eyes are just staring out at people. Well, Donovan would like putting it back down every time. Slap your head. Oh, no, no, no. So I guess I'll paint a picture more than Red Dragonborn here. So Skalmar, he's not necessarily a young Dragonborn. He's more middle adulthood. He has the build of someone who was a bodybuilder when younger, but then ended up in a desk job for a few years and let that slip. So he's got a bit of a belly pushing his armor out. He's got a little dragon dad bod. Yeah, yeah.

Son of a bitch. He's Mr. Incredible. Dragon dad bod. So yeah, he's still fit and he's still muscular, but he's let it slip a little bit. He is in his armor and everything. He's got a big old war hammer kind of lashed to one side and a whip lashed to the other side of his belt. And he wears kind of like, I wouldn't call it necessarily like a red, it's kind of like a, man, it's not quite a cloak because it's got like holes for arms. So imagine like a knee-length coat that's kind of a dark red and has no sleeves, right? So it kind of rests over his armor, but you can see his whole armored arms all the way down.

Okay. Kind of like a sleeveless duster. Yeah, yeah. That's a good way to describe it. And when he walks, he kind of, like Dragonborn are perfectly capable of like walking like upright civilized beings, but he like, he kind of hulks forward. Like he keeps his head ahead of his center of gravity. So he looks kind of like lizardly, bestial, dragon-y as he walks, probably somewhat intentionally. Like it seems like an affectation. Do you know? One, firstly, Dragonborn are big boys anyway. So if you used to be like a bodybuilder type of thing, like that's a big boy.

Secondly, I don't think this was intentional, but we're going to get some fan fiction about your character. What did I say? No, no, no. I'm working on the movie Rumble. No, I'm saying like you're painting a great picture for people and the dragon dad bod thing is going to get. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's oh, you just lit up a whole portion of the Internet. One second. You're welcome. You're welcome. Tell Kelsey. I don't say anything. I know, but I could feel it in the air. Y'all fan your flushed faces here and we'll get moving. No. So so so he kind of he kind of does his hulking walk over to over to Donovan and Masoka.

And he says, I see you are several drinks deep. Is this victory drinking or drowning sorrows? And he'll he'll just finish his current drink. A little bit of both, mostly celebration, I think. Care to join us for one more? I suppose I could. I do not drink much, but I can drink with you in the interest of introductions. My name, by the way, is Skalnar Hisk. I am a paladin of Alverin. I hope it is a pleasure to meet you. We will soon find out. Of course, it's a pleasure to meet me. It's a pleasure to meet you. I come meet my friend Masoka over here and he'll and I like slap you on the cheek.

Hey, can I call you Scallywag? I would appreciate if you did not do that. Yeah, he probably will. How unfortunate. And he reaches into his coat and pulls out like a tiny little like like pocket notebook and just like scratches something real quick. And then slaps it closed like very punctually and slips it back in his pocket. I uh, you came in earlier. You looked like you'd had a rough time on the road. What happened to you? It's been a long time on the road. Yeah, we just came back from from Donhurst. I don't know if you've heard what's happening over there, but we're in the.

And he's going to lean over the table and kind of like speaking a hushed voice like, where are the fearless items? We were the ones sent by Winterhaven to investigate. Jason, have I heard of the fearless titans? I'm going to say no. Yeah, it's not like it hasn't gotten around. You know, it's it's it's it's it's in its infancy. Like the YouTube channel. Got a banner and that's a yeah. On the way back. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Miss Oka vampires. Shush. We we lost. We lost a member of ours, a good friend of ours to the vampires from over there. It's that's what we're we're drinking to honor him.

Yeah, yeah. Not to forget. Of course not. And he'll he'll grab his drink and then he'll say, shall we toast that you tell me? Tell me his name. Toast to him. Oh, yeah, of course. He's going to stand up with his drink and he's going to speak up for like the room to hear. And today we drink to Ubo Ubo of the mountain and Skelnar will raise his cup. Oh, oh, oh, of the mountain. And we'll get the countess for what she did to him. So so all the while, if you're if you're being like aware of of Skelnar's reactions, he's like as you mentioned, like, oh, Don Hurst.

Oh, the countess. That's that. The more you talk about that, he like he is kind of perking up and widening his eyes a little bit like, oh, OK. They know what's going on. So he joins you in your toast. And when when that passes, he says, so you you spoke of the countess in Don Hurst. Am I to assume your friends died fighting her or her minions? Yeah. Yeah. Her minions. We didn't engage her. Well, I don't think that would have been wise. But on the way out, we tried to save some guy and Ubo who wanted to be brave. And while the rest is history, he was impatient.

I think he was carrying a lot of stuff with him. I don't think it was impatience, but certainly he was brave. Those of us who take to this violent life on the road, we I think every one of us has some amount of, how shall we say, baggage. Yeah. You tell me. Oh, Syria. Yeah. What you got me something, Soka? What you got there is like this. I'm not a dad, but I'm in love with Maddy. It's going to know who that is, but he smirks. Yeah, that's Miss Oka's baggage in a nutshell. Yeah, Donovan says that actually. And what about you, Skellner? What brings you to the honest Arlid?

Many things. I need assistance with a great many issues. As I said earlier, I am a paladin of Alverin and Elara is in desperate need of justice in many ways. You are in luck, I should say. One of the ways in which I'm interested in delivering justice is actually helping to handle this countess situation. It cannot be done alone. I am quite capable, but even I know my limits. Yeah, no. Good plan. Going alone is definitely an impasse, my friend. In fact, the five of us, we can't do anything about that situation. We're going to have to go tell the survivors of Dawnhurst that they can't go back home.

And we need to tell Winterhaven that if they want to get involved, they're going to have to do it because the countess is going to go pick up the residents of the city if they go back and live there again. She's going to just snatch them and eat them. No, no, no. I will talk to a monitor. Excuse me. He's actually going to run away and throw up. Oh, what a hot mess. Skal'narr will narrow his eyes a bit then and get more serious. So this is it. You're just going to tuck your tails in failure. Run away. Allow us to remain. Hold on, Skal'narr. Excuse me. As a paladin myself, I don't run away.

We have a mission to do. We have to tell Winterhaven. We have to inform the parties involved. And if we can get Winterhaven support and Aubrey's support, because you know, in Aubrey there's a lot of firepower against the vampires over there. It's just that if you join us and we go back and knock on her door, we won't make it far. No, no, I understand better now. I see. So you are going to rally a force to counterattack to bring the fight to her doorstep? Yeah, well that would be ideal. If Winterhaven doesn't send us there, I guess we're going to have to take it on ourself, yeah.

This is a worthy cause. Again, one of many I hope to solve with my career adventuring. How... I have been in this town for a few days now and you are in fact the most capable looking adventurers I have seen so far. Perhaps I join you. Does that sound alright? I could show you what skills I have to offer and we certainly seem to be united toward a particular cause. If you are in fact immediately planning to address the Countess, even in the roundabout way of first gathering your forces. It is your next goal, as it were. That's pretty much it, yeah. At least for me.

I'll have to introduce you to the rest of the party. I hate to say it like that, but there is an opening right now. There is... Oh god, there is... I guess you're going to get paid back in Winterhaven if you follow us as a member of this party. I mean, if it was just up to me... You're a paladin you say, right? A paladin of Alderaan. I think I could share notes, maybe? Maybe you show me what you can do and I'll show you what I can do? I will show you what I can do, but I will warn you. My training is not typical of a paladin entirely. I have learned a few tricks in my time as a jailer.

Diversified my capabilities. That's even better, because I don't think I'm the typical paladin myself either. He's going to lean in closer to you, he's going to tap at his tavern, he's going to be... I don't worship this guy. Oh boy. That is a typical... Anyway, I'll make the arrangements. I'll introduce you to Madi, Anven, Astor, Clifford, Trent? Maybe we'll see Trent? I don't know. And well, this over there was Masoka. I don't know where they are, so maybe you'll have a chance of seeing them somewhere outside in the city. Look for the other tough looking lady with the Amanator Tavern.

I have business to attend here, so maybe I'll just meet up with you a little later outside. One second. Why are you guys talking? Some folks are going to stride into this bar. Donovan, do me a favor and give me a perception check. Okay. Mwah. Love it. So they kind of have a swagger about them. Not like, "Oh, we're going to go into this bar and drink." It's like, "We own this bar and we are coming in to drink our alcohol now." Leading the charge is Tiefling Man with this kind of really neatly clipped goatee type of thing. Kind of like the traditional depiction of the devil.

You know what I mean? That curly mustache and the goatee? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he's going to come in with a cadre of five. Five folks. You very much recognize this man. You fought him in the Divide. Oh, no. They're going to walk in and they're going to look around. The sun has set, by the way. Oh, that was my next question. And they're going to look around and they're going to walk up to the bar. They're going to walk in, scope out the place, and then they're going to walk up to the bar, knock on the bar. Very impatient, just like, "Let's go." And the Tiefling in the lead, if you were to put an age on him, Tieflings age a little slower.

If you were human, you'd put him at like 43, something like that. Like a little older, but like, you know. And he's going to pull the bartender in close and whisper something in his ear. And as the bartender pulls back a little bit, he's going to give this smile and a wink and the bartender is going to rush off. And this Tiefling man is going to spin around and look back at his crew. Do all the crew have the red pauldron from the Fang? Yeah. Okay. So like, don't have a little tense up, I'm going to get closer to the table and kind of tell... Sorry, I just read what Susan said in the chat.

Susan, I cannot make any promise. No! They just rebuilt! We can rebuild again. We can re-rebuild. He's going to like motion to a scoundrel to come close. Scalding our lead in. Okay. Behind you, there's a group of five people. There's this Tiefling, evil looking Tiefling at the head of them. These are the guys. I gotta kill them. They don't know you. Can you go find out why they're here? Meanwhile, I'm going to go talk to that bartender and see what they're up to. Just distract them for just a couple minutes. Very well. I will see what I can discover. You're awesome.

You got the job. At that, Skelnar kind of gives him a little side eye and says, "So did you." Wait before you go. Don't let him bite you. They're vampires. All of them. With that information, he says, "Thank you for the warning." Then Skelnar gets up and before he gets up, he finishes his drink real quick so he can go to the bar with the excuse of, "I need a refill." So you go up there and you got your empty glass. This guy reeks of perhaps overconfidence. Definitely confidence, but maybe overconfidence. So he's doing that thing where he's arched back, leaning against the bar.

He's got his elbows resting on the edge of the bar while he's waiting for something. He's going to be taking in Skelnar, just looking him up and down. If Skelnar notices that, he does the same. He just kind of equals him in investigation, so to speak. He checks this guy out. He's going to look at his boys here, and girls. It's a mix. The fang are equal opportunity. He's going to look at everybody and kind of laugh. One single chuckle type of thing. He's going to look back at Skelnar. "You got something to say, big boy?" "Just getting a refill. No need to pick a fight." He's going to stand up straight and face the bar, but still looking at Skelnar.

"No need to fight. Just poke at fun. Sorry." Skelnar will shrug at that and just put out a hand for a handshake and say, "Skelnar hisk." I think when you put out your hand, he's almost expecting you to throw a punch or something. You can see, not reflexively jerk, but he's just slightly tensed up. He's going to give another smile, and he's going to reach out and grab Skelnar's hand. Galraus. Galraus Grimnus. So, I guess, how do I know of the Grimnus? Well, let's see. I have lived for some time in Brightport. Right. So, I almost certainly know the Grimnus family name, huh?

It's hard not to in Brightport, especially the last few years. I'll tell you what, do me a favor. Give me a wisdom check. Let's see how much you know. Wisdom check. Okay. Yeah, I don't have history or anything like that, so yeah. Just a wisdom check. I was sitting here shaking a physical die in my hand as though that's how I would... I have these dice beside, I have my Skelnar dice sitting beside me. I know we don't play in person, but I put them out here. And then I was shaking the D20 looking for my modifier. Here we go. Here we go. Okay. We're going to click that and we're going to pop it in there. 19. 19, yeah.

Yeah, you'd know probably quite a lot about, at the very least, Tessa. And probably Valus. Well, look. Not Malchus? There's no nothing? Well, okay. He's a West Coast boy. He's a West Coast boy. You just exhausted all the grimnesses of his skull. I didn't. Look, okay. I love words from the shadows. I'm going to say this. You're a worshiper of Alverin. There's no love lost for someone like Valus. And he's... The fucker's got the nickname of the Butcher. So like, you're probably not a huge fan of his. I don't know how much... Well, you tell me, Susan. How much, like, I feel like...

Erolove would be more of a... working behind the scenes person. Is she more of a public figure nowadays in Brightport? Yeah, she's very much behind the scenes in books all the time. So, yeah, you'd know that, like, Tessa is trying to rehabilitate people and give them jobs and stuff like that. The... Yeah. Okay. Just before something happens. Just in case something happens. We never know when them dies. Donovan would try to use this distraction to kind of, like, sneak away. To try to, like, find that bartender who walked away to do whatever. I don't think that anybody would be, like, buying him up.

I think he'd remove his tabard and, like, stuff it, like, on his chair on his pillow just so that he's not as recognizable to them, at least from the corner of the eye. And, yeah, he'll try to sneak away and find that person. You may resume. Okay. So, yeah, Skalmar, at that and knowing what he knows, he says... He does shake his hand and says, "Grimnus. Quite a name. Of the Grimnus family of Brightport?" So he's going to kind of cock his head just a little bit. Ah, you know him? I know of Tessia, certainly Valus. I know I've heard little bits of news of some of the other ones who have, shall we say, tried to make a name for themselves, but mostly I have heard of the ones local to my hometown.

Ah, boy. Hmm. He is going. He's going to nod and probably take a sip of what he's drinking here. Ah, well, I've been to Brightport in a little while, but the kids definitely take after me. You know, taught them everything they know. Must be, uh... Well, I guess I should ask, are you proud? No doubt they are capable, but, uh... How are they related to you? I'm really trying to decide how much of an asshole he is. Hmm. Let me roll a flight to each one. Middle of the road asshole. He's going to lean in. Well, uh, you know Tessia. I do, yes. We used to be together. It, uh, it didn't work out, but I've kept an eye on my kids here and there.

They are, uh, definitely capable. I would have preferred him to follow a different path, but... throwing the name around has gotten me more than a few free drinks. So you are disappointed in their legacy, huh? I just wanted more for them, you know? I got, uh, I got one in Winterhaven. He's just, uh, just... just killing himself to try to be one of them. And it just makes me sad, you know? So there's this brief moment where, like, talking about kids is like... like, Skal'narr kind of wants to, like, oh, you know, he wants to talk about his family, but then he's like, oh wait, I'm talking to a vampire, and also...

Perhaps I do not want to reveal that I have family members who he might exploit. So he, like, literally Rob sitting here almost did that as the next leg of the conversation. It was like, wait a tick. I have vulnerable people in my life too! Yeah. So... He says, uh, I do not understand. The one in Winterhaven, he is... You say he wants to try to be one of whom? One of, um... What do you mean? Expand on that, yes. It's just this... You got anybody in your family who works for the government? Tax collector, road repair, anything like that. It is not so, no. I suppose I was once a jailer, so...

Perhaps just me. Oh boy. That's gonna get a reaction, where, like, he... Oh boy. The folks he came in with, that's gonna rustle their feathers a bit. A jailer, huh? What, uh... What city? See, here's the thing. He knows they're vampires. But he doesn't know that, like, the banditry side of this... So he has no idea that's a sensitive issue. Right. So yeah, he kinda... He says, uh, he served in Brightport several years. Too much time, though, sitting behind a desk at a certain point. Had to get back out on the road. Nothing like it. Unblinkingly, he's gonna nod at you.

Yeah. See? He's gonna take another sip. Ahh... I got nothing against the profession. I get it. You gotta do what you gotta do. Make a living. But I travel with some folks who... Would probably... Take offense to your chosen profession, friend. In any regard. My kid. He's... Just bending over backwards, trying to be some government toady. Peace treaties, talks, and just... Jumping through hopes for this council. And his half-burned kid they got running that town. It just... He could be doing so much more. You ever hear... The kid can talk. I swear he could talk the shirt off your back if you give him a chance.

Little verbose. Doesn't shut up sometimes, but... He's got panache. We each have to choose our own path, and certainly as... Taxing as all of the treaties and documents and so on can be... Cities need order. Someone has to do it. If not, we merely have the rule of the strong. Tyranny. See, see... You call it tyranny. I call it cutting through the bullshit. We got a thing going on right now. Where? We got a pecking order. We got someone at the top keeping an eye on things. And then the rest of it... Is just ours. We run it how we see fit. Yeah. We got to do some stuff I don't necessarily agree with here and there, but...

It keeps all of us fed and happy. You, uh... You looking for work right now, friend? Might be able to use someone with a nice head on their shoulders like you. I'm afraid you are late in that regard. I have already found new work, but... It's certainly good to know that there are... Myriad options. He's gonna raise his glass. And by this point, I would imagine Skalnar's glass has been refilled. Hey. Offers always on the table, friend. And he's gonna wink and kind of smile and you're gonna see one sharp tooth... As he's smiling. He'll clink his glass up against yours, whether you want a toast or not.

Skalnar just kind of plays it cool, right? Like he's... I mean, is one pointed fang like a clear vampire? Like... Like, do I immediately... Had I not known he was a vampire, would I then know? Is it so wrong that it's... Well, okay. Some tieflings have elongated canines, right? They kind of have, you know, sharpish teeth, but that's... Exaggerated even for that. Like, you already know he's a vampire. But what this is telling you is he's not afraid of you knowing. And after he clinks his glass, he's going to set it back down on the bar. Well, I got some business to attend to here, so if you'll excuse me, maybe we'll talk again later.

Very well. And I think that's a good time for us to stop for the night, everybody. Oh, man. I know. We're gonna see what happened to... Soon. Soon. Oh, yeah, we play the week. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, I'm okay with it. Not two months. Okay. We'll get to introduce our new friend to the group. Yeah, with a bang. Hey, everybody, we are getting ready for Theriathon. Theriathon 2020 will be on April 25th, starting at noon Eastern, all the way through to midnight Eastern. It is a 12-hour celebration of the show. We'll be recording live episodes for you guys. We have a wealth of surprises, and I hope you guys can join us on that day and help us spread the word to pack as many people into that chat room as possible.

Of course, your reviews on iTunes help us out a lot. I know a couple of you were upset that we have ads on the show now. We try to keep them down to a minimum, but we gotta pay bills. It's just a thing, and I'm really sorry about that. But, yeah, we've done everything we can to make them as non-intrusive as possible. Speaking of which, over at patreon.com/dandr, we are really in full swing now. Thank you guys for all your feedback. Stuff like Town Crier and all the new groups and the new format for living in Theria have been going pretty well. And we really want to thank you guys for letting us know what you think, because sometimes we take stabs at stuff and we're not exactly sure if you guys really enjoy it.

So thank you very much. We really appreciate that. Of course, if you guys have feedback, we would really appreciate you sending us any emails you have to dandrpodcast@gmail.com. That's d-a-n-d-r podcast at gmail dot com, all spelled out. And again, if you haven't heard, we are accepting videos so that I can start putting them together for Theriathon. We would really, really appreciate that because it's something that I want to do to highlight you guys, and that really worked out last year. So I want to try and do something new this year and kind of expand upon that.

So thank you guys so much. We really appreciate it. And we'll see you next week for a brand new episode of the show. Take care.