Beyond the Pale

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Hey folks, Jasper here as always. Welcome back to Frostborn, arc six of Dungeons and Randomness. First, quick reminder, we're looking for some new voices just like yours to round out our cast. That's right. Dungeons and Randomness is in the midst of a proper casting call from now through December 31st, 2025. Details are on our Discord, and a link is in our episode description. There's actually a short announcement about it in the main feed if you scroll back a little bit. We want some new friends. Let it be you. Next up, a few folks have mentioned recently they've been meaning to start frostborn, but of course, catching up on something that covers over 60 hours of storyline already can be pretty daunting.

I mean, you're about to hear episode 29 for goodness sake, and that's a lot of content to digest. Good news, there's a full recap of episodes 1 through 20 in our feed. It takes about 40 hours of our story and boils it down to a single hour. Scroll down in the feed right after episode 20 and you'll find it. Even better, share it with a friend. and help us spread the word about DNR. Believe it or not, we've been at this for nearly 14 years, and honestly, we want to be in more people's feeds. Help us out. Also, please check out Lobstar on Kickstarter, a graphic novel and Labor of Love by Jameson, otherwise known as Logren, and his gang of comic book publishing heroes at very big comics.

In it, main character Matthew Murphy, a simple down-east main lobsterman, commits a selfless act only to find himself chosen as the champion of the Lord of Law. lobsters. I mean, come on. Listen, it's fully funded already and right in the last couple of days. But Jameson and crew want to hit stretch goals to get far more of the story out into the world. So if you're listening to this in November 2025, you know what to do. Link is in the episode description. Lastly, reminder that DNR uses level up advanced fifth edition from E&Publishing as our gaming system.

It springboards off of Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition and makes our storytelling even richer. Code D-A-N-D-R gets you a discount. All right, catching up with the Frostborn Group. As you all know, we left the Doorgar's Mountain Stronghold with new allies, a ticking clock to get Logrin's plan tackled before a more bloody option takes place, as well as with a hefty slab of adamantine carried by the Gearheart. What's that, you ask? Well, the Gearheart is a one-of-a-kind, make-shift all-terrain vehicle by Ruby Logrin and some of our Durgar buddies. All powered by some arcane batteries.

Anyway, we made our way back to Estherhold, ready to regroup and make some plans for what's next. Oh, and good news on the way we picked up a hitchhiker. Bad news, he was a werewolf. Even worse news, he surprised us all, maybe even himself, and mauled Chimera right there at the city gates. Moderately good news, Chimera's questionable patron Colgoth, mended him up quickly, though he had some strange side effects to deal with. Today, we check in on Camera and all of that nonsense. Also, we have to park the gear hearts somewhere safe. We also have to park our butts for a minute and catch our breath.

And something tells me the esterholt we left is a little more tense than we'd like. Take it away, Jason. Let's do that thing where we go around the table. Jason, I'm the judge of master. Going around the table starting with Ian. Hey, I'm Ian. And my brain show. the And Jasper. Hey, him. I play Ruby Pedigrew, the half-org gear slinger, adept. And I know that feeling because my brain has done exactly the same thing before. And it's such a terrible feeling. So terrible that right now, I have a piece of tape that actually has all of that stuff right underneath the camera because, and I don't even have to use it, but now I have a safety now.

I was going to say, could you, you did it so perfectly. I felt so bad. I was like, could you mess up just a teeny bit? I'm telling you, it's like I have a cue card. And last and certainly not least, Jameson. Hey, I'm Jameson. I'm He Him. I'm a Logger and Cragborn. I'm a Dwarven Marshall. So here's what we're going to do. We started recording this episode, and we had some tech difficulties. We didn't get very far in, and we had three recordings. Nuts to that. throwing in all the garbage. So we're back in Estherholt. Technically, you're at the gates of Estherhold, but you're getting in.

There was a werewolf. The car is damaged. And these guards are are looking at you like that came out of your car. So there's going to be some questions there's going to be, but you were also attacked. So I think they're just going to chalk it up to. That's really unfortunate. that guy was bitten. And they are going to kind of look at chimera like, uh, that's like he bit the shit out of you. And you kind of transformed and became more demon-ish. You know, the tiny white pinpricks for eyes. It looks like when I turned the lights off here and the like, just complete darkness and shadow.

And you'll probably get, you know what? Give me a quick persuasion check to smooth this over. It'll be, it'll be simple. Yes. No problem. No problem there. Persuasion you say. That's what you do, man. It's not actually. Well, in the past, you've done very well. Look at that. That's a tool one. There we go. You're 13. I got a 21. It is what you do, sir. I got a roll rate. You have a plus eight. Like, you're doing okay. So there, you're going to smooth this over. Just say, hey, we picked up a guy. He attacked us. And, you know, obviously, you're not in cohoots. It's not like you had a werewolf, like hunched over in the back the entire time.

Like, it's very easy to explain. So they'll open these gates. They'll wave you in. and this car, that the gear heart is, it's, we'll call it, um, minorly used right now. Like, it is, it is beat up a bit. There's some scuffs and some scrapes, but she still operates just fine. I do feel like Ruby would be kind of back and forth through it. Really concerned about chimera and check it on him, but at a distance, Since kind of like not fawning, but not overdoing it, but just like, you okay, you're all right. And at the same time, doing exactly the same thing to the gear heart.

And there's probably, this is not the kind of thing like a regular car, right? There's a lot of stuff that's duct taped together. Like, there's like leather straps. It's like that could have just killed us all. Why didn't that? I didn't even think about it. You know, so she's got in her mind probably a mess. map of a bunch of stuff that she needs to fix and tighten up. But she's back and forth concerned about chimera, the gear heart, and getting this thing inside in a place that would allow her to at some point here in the very near future, like get underneath it and fix things and tighten things up and whatever.

So she'd be pushing for it. Honestly, if you asked, the easiest place would be. Well, park it with the carriages, like park it near the horses and stuff. Because carriages break down all the time, right? You need an axle, a wheel busts. Oh, this bench is just giving me splinters. Can we just like, you know, like there's all kinds of. Yours is different, obviously. You pulling in there. If you asked someone who does work on these carriages, hey, could you just give her a spit shine? They wouldn't touch this because one, it's always warm. for some reason. And if you park this overnight, there will be no snow around.

It will be melted directly around the car, which. That's probably like a what the, like people will look at that like, okay, that's weird. And they just don't know what to do with it. Yeah. She'll try to make sure that, by the way, This thing is she doesn't want too many eyes on this. The guards were already kind of gawking at it. You're probably going to get a little bit of, you know, chit-chat about it. She will want to try to find a way to cover it up with some canvas or something. Just something to make this be innocuous so that she can get to it later.

Not trying to keep it secret or anything, but just, yeah, just no prying eyes, please. Mm-hmm. Not until she can get her hands back on it. Sure. So there is. Actually, give me, you know what? Does anyone have the specialty streetwise? It's in culture. Does anyone have that by any chance? Do not. It's a reach, right? It's a niche within a niche. Does anyone have culture? Is anyone trained in that? No, trained. Okay, we'll just keep panning back out. Okay. How about who has a character? I have my street stuff, right? So I can talk to urchins, but this is not going to be quite the same thing.

Yeah, it's, it's, yeah, this isn't a huge urchin city. Yeah. So, okay, here's what we'll do. Everybody give me a perception check with disadvantage. This will just be you kind of picking up things on the street. Like, what is happening? What's going on? What's going on? Ooh. Who, who, who. What the hell? Okay. Damn. I think I broke the city curse. So, okay. We've got chimera rolled a one. Logrin has two. Nythira 21. And Ruby 13. We'll start with Nythera. Let's do that. I would say it's just been a long, it's been kind of a long journey from the mountains. It's been two weeks.

You're just kind of, it's like, look, I just kind of want to check into a hotel and just, you know, like, let's get our finger back of the pulse of what's going on in here. What was that flare? All that stuff. And there is going to notice that there is a commotion. There seems to be something happening further into the city. And it's the only reason you would know that is like you're kind of placing. It's like, okay, where did we see that flare? You were a little, a little ways out. But it's like, okay, that wasn't near the gates. And then every once in a while, you'll see someone kind of like push past a crowd and run into, like, down the street, like down into that center portion of the city.

So you're figuring, oh, maybe there was some kind of crime or maybe there, you know, someone's giving away something. But the flare is the thing that kind of is, it's like, that's probably not good. Like, unless it's some kids growing around, that's a possibility. But people rushing that way still. Yeah. Night the arrow will say to Logren, I believe whatever that flare was related to, there's some sort of commotion still happening towards the center of the city. Well, we better get a place on the edge town then. Sounds good. It's not our problem. I also mention that Ruby, remember, she has gutter snipe as a feature, which means that she knows how to get anywhere in town without being spotted by gangs, gossips, or guard patrols.

So if there's any sort of advantage to that in any way, I think they've been around Estherhold enough, especially with Chimera and her doing some shopping before, that she'd probably say maybe this way, that way, if there became an issue. I'm not sure that that's an issue right now. It's not really an issue, but Esther Holt is an easy place to avoid guards and pass. palatins because, well, guards always have, you know, their city patrol outfits. And the paladins wear bright colors that clash with each other because they clash with each other. So it's easy to spot them.

So are you guys staying at silk shakes again? Silk sheets again? Or do you stay in a different place? 100%. All right. I'm saying that. Ruby would advocate for that. Oh, wait, man. That was the expensive one. That was too much money. Let's go somewhere else. We've got so much money. Actually, just stuck to our contraption. We could say anywhere. We can't spend the contraption. We have to go somewhere else. Kimera was just attacked by a werewolf. Maybe a bit of comfort would ease him. Yes. It was incredibly traumatic. Physically, mentally, all of them. Ruby has big old eyes.

Logrin just stops walking for a second. He just looks at the three. And he goes one night. That's it. Yes. They've got a mini bar. Yeah. Oh, no. No, no. With camera. Right. No. No. We're fine. Yeah. No. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to make it clear, too, also out of character. Logging is currently carrying 1,000 and 10 gold coins and 1,000 platinum coins. You guys have more money than God right now. You have an 8-foot bar of adamantine. Like, that's going to be hard to move, though, I feel. And if your heart alone is probably worth. thousands of gold. If you could convince of what it is and what it does, eventually they'll go, oh shit, yeah, that's great.

The good news is that... Yeah, that big old ingot, you know, I feel like it's like shoved underneath. It almost feels is probably just looks and feels like it's part of that contraption. So not too worried about it getting stolen or picked up. in any way. Honestly. Like, it's so cumbersome to steal. Like, first of all, you've got to get it out of that. Like, I almost feel like it's part of the frame. Like you're talking about it's tucked under. And then it's hundreds of pounds. Like, no kids going to make off with that in the night. You know, that's fine. I just find a dead kid trapped underneath it.

You know. We've got another one. We put that no kid sign, but that just seems to attract them. They just want to get under it. I'm going to use while there's commotion and even even though we've made it in, I'm going to use a feature called Trickster's Veil, which lets me cast disguise self. And I am going to just sort of like, wipe my hand across my body as if taking off a costume and Chimera's old self or typical self is going to to show up instead of these demon features. And I will say, as the hours tick by, those will recede a little bit. Like your horns will recede a couple of inches.

You know, like it'll, like your pupils will start to come back. like those features. Everything except that big friggin hole in your sternum. That's still going to be kind of kind of like scarred over demon tissue. But everything else, the face is fine. Like everything else is fine. It's just, you know, you like, it's not an exact science you're getting. Like, you're kind of kidding. Like Cole off went, shit. There's not enough of you to patch up. I have to do something. I turn to it before I do any of this. Yeah, before I do anything, I'm like, Ruby, quick, take a drawing.

I just want to get one. Just one like this. She manages. This probably happens. This probably happens all the time just for no reason. Here, watch this. Draw this, right? Right. What about this? I'm holding? I want to see how this outfit looks on me. Can you draw? Yeah, yeah. You're all right. So silk sheets for sure. Silk sheets. That's a hard one to say. Silk sheets. Right? Definitely. Well, everybody gave yourself a long rest. Especially, even. Especially, Ian. Let's get chimera. Nice long rest. Yeah. Ooh. All right. So, unless you guys are doing something that night, we're going to advance to the 21st of Doolan.

Do we hear this turmoil from the windows of the silk sheets. So, silk sheets. So, silk sheets. is pretty close to the front gates, right? So let me draw you guys. Like, let me give you kind of a, yeah. There we go. So, okay. You know, this is where you guys are, like up here. So it's somewhere in here, somewhere in here, somewhere the center of the city. So it's quite a ways away. So you'll hear, you'll hear like ringing of, bells and stuff like that. You'll hear distant, distant shouting. But it's no different than staying in a motel in like a big city, right?

Like if you're in L.A. and it's like, yeah, there's noises. Like, there's just stuff going on. But it is odd that it's, it's this late at night and there's that much commotion. But yeah, you're going to, you know, probably not anything. You like, oh, yeah, we got to go fix that, you know. I'd like to ask. The concierge there. I think his name is Lanny. Is it land? Whoever. Whoever was there. Whoever is there. Is ever running front desk? I'd like to ask, like, what went down, like, what happened with that flare a couple of nights ago? Or one night ago? Hours ago.

Hours ago. It would be like an hour. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you were. What's up? What happened? Like. we saw this thing coming in and then we saw a flare go up and now there's commotion. What's the scuttle butt? So I just rolled just to see if there would be anything and just kind of like, oh, no, I heard, I heard something going on, but I don't know anything yet. That news just hasn't filtered in unless you guys want to skip to the next day and then we could try it again. I feel like we're just going to... We're exhausted. We just had a bunch of damage for a chimera, a bunch of emotional damage for the past, I don't know, three weeks.

I think it's like mini bar and bathtub time at the silk sheets. For Ruby, at least, she'd be like, I'm... I just need quiet, just for a minute. You got it. Your mind has been going, you know, building that gear heart. That could not be easy trying to come up with all of that all at once. That was present and taxing, I'm sure. Can I tell you a secret? I don't remember any of it. Like, I just, like, all of it's like a blur. It just came out of me. Anyway, I need sleep. All right. Everybody gave yourself a long rest. It is the 21st of Doolin. Bright nearly the next day.

There's going to be a bit of a commotion in the lobby. Depending on how close you would to get to this, you'll hear that there's kind of a... let's call it a spirited discussion. And it has to do with politics. So people have opinions, right? They're very, they're very loud. So you could probably, you know what? Let's do it one more time. Everybody give me a perception check. Because this is one of those things where your passive perception would definitely let you know that the conversation is kind of like, you know, like a couple's argument, almost. Oh, wow.

You're turn to roll a one. Camera and I are in the same boat. Yeah. Yeah. So Ruby and Chimera are going to pick up that a vampire was murdered. like, flat out murdered in the city last night. Now, there's a few interesting things about this. One, no one seems to have seen what happened. Two, it's odd for a vampire to have been outside of the gloaming quarter, like that far far outside, because they were well outside of that. Three, violence does. doesn't usually take place like this. Like, murder is not... There are so many guards and paladins. And the paladins are trying to one up each other constantly.

That their individual sections of the city are almost crime-free, because they're so overzealous to prove themselves that, you know what I mean? So a murder is a huge deal. Murdering a vampire is a huge deal because there's kind of an uneasy truce in the city. They have their own section. and they're kind of treated like second-class citizens by a lot of the people in the city. They just don't trust them because they have their own culture. They have their own little portion. They don't bother anybody. But at the same time, they're not part of the community either.

So they're pulled away. Now, the palatins instantly got into a debate over whose jurisdiction this should fall under. And that became, that's the reason. for the flare. The Sentinels found them first. That is one of the Paladin orders set off a flare to get more. That called in the opposing order, and they have been fighting most of the night about who should deal with this. Meanwhile, the city guard obviously are involved, kind of told them both to stay back. So now you have a three-way standoff, and then the vampires get involved, because one of theirs has been killed for seemingly no reason.

And this vampire was staked clean through the heart. This was a single shot. Someone assassinated him. This has caused a huge problem. So you got people getting their continental breakfast arguing over, well, it shouldn't be vampires in the city, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then some people are backing up one of the, one of the sides of the paladins, the other. It's just arguing, you know, nothing's being done. In fact, they're not really talking about the victim at all. It's more the ethics of handling the crime and all this shit. It's kind of boring, almost.

So, I mean, I feel like Ruby and chimera, our perception checks probably. We were looking for continental breakfast. We were looking for scrounging for something. She's trying to find some sort of coffee, just something just to get going. And I'm not sure that Ruby would get in the middle of a conversation, but she would be eavesdropping as much as possible to try to figure out where in the hell this happened. Only because the only experience that they've all had in Estherhold with vampires was really good. And if anything, Ruby probably would have thought we could go to the Gloomy Quarter and be safe if there was something else happening. happening in town.

But now, now it's just more of a powder keg than it already was. So I don't know. These are just thoughts in Ruby's head. But she would chitch chat with about that with chimera. Be like, what that? I don't even know where, I don't even know what's safe in here anymore. Mm-hmm. I hope the kids are okay. I was about to say the same thing. I thought there's a 50-50 chance. They're the ones who set off the flare, but I guess not. Wait, what's going on? What are you two talking about? Vampire was killed. Last night. In Estro? Yeah. Right through the heart. I don't think they know who did it or maybe they do, but they don't even really care.

They just want to know who needs to be the ones who finds it all out. Like, they're just all kind of fighting amongst themselves. But I don't know. Makes me worry about your friend. Yeah. Some weirdo was... Yeah, some weirdo was targeting him. Was it the same weirdo at Bonsos? Yes. There was a weird guy when we were leaving and Lagerr knew him and called him out by name. And he was some kind of creepy weirdo from Aubrey or something. You think your friend did this, Lager? I don't think it was him. He got people in trouble. He never attacked anybody like that before.

He didn't seem like that. surgical assassination type either, but you never know. I mean, it could still be his fault. He could have talked somebody into it. Who knows? But I don't think it was him. Crime of passion, anger, you know. I mean, there's only one way we can really figure out what to do here. And that's go to Bonzo's dark for dinner tonight. See what we can find out. That's a good way to get intel. We'll have our ear to the ground. She is acting very cool. She's not. She's just seeing if it lands. So Largren's kind of just nodding along. And he goes, wait, why are we fine?

Why are we getting Intel? Because we've got stuff to do. Well, I mean, because I feel like we made some friends. And she'll look over at Night Thera. And maybe this matters. I don't know. I know. I know. I know we got things to do. But this is fun. And terrible. at the same time. I'm sorry. I haven't had my coffee. Do you know what she's like before her coffee? If we could just find out the victim's name. I'm by no means in love. But I'd much rather not know my one-time lover wasn't murdered in cold blood in the middle of the streets. Guess that could look bad on us too.

How? Lobberin will like lean behind himself to like the table behind him. You'd be like, hey, what was that guy's name? Like pat somebody on the shoulder. Who got killed? What was his name? Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, do me favor. Roll a flat D20. Okay. Flat T12 coming right up. A four. Four. So lower end of the scale, you're going to get one of those people who... Vampire shouldn't even be. So if you ask, who was a good... Who's whose name? Got you got killed? Yeah. It was a vampire who gives a shit. Oh. I do. That's why I asked you a question about who got killed. Because I wanted to know what their name was.

Never mind. You over there. What was her name? Get educated, man. This is your city. And honestly, we could keep this. He wants to argue about it. It's like, oh, you want to do. Yeah, just like, yeah. I mean, if you're going to push it, I will continue, did he pick a fight. You know what? Let me see. Hold on a second. I'm interested in. Okay. It's the first thing in the morning. Oh, wisdom has no place here. Yeah, so he's going to, he's going to, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you like friends with them or something? Is that what you do when somebody asks you a question, you just immediately get mad about it and make it a problem?

Ah, it depends on the question. I'm saying there's one less of them in the city. That should be something to celebrate and you're over here. I don't know what you've crying about it with what? Hey, have you ever had a broken collarbone? Give me an intimidation check. Wait, can we assist? Yeah, I guess. Okay, anybody trained in intimidation. Give me an assist. Yes, I, of course. I'm a serious. My hair is totally mean bugging this guy. All right. Just like slowly picking up a knife. Holding the blade end. The bottom next at the breakfast table. Like flipping it between her fingers.

Oh, my God. Oh, wow. 22. That'll do it. So I'm not, I'm not entirely sure that it's logren that. That. You know, because you, there was nothing in your tone. It's like, I'll mess you up. But you do have three other members at your table at this guy sitting alone. I know. And he's a good. - - first, everybody talked to him about this. Yeah. Oh, my God, please ask me about my political opinions. It's written on his shirt. Like, yeah. See my hat? You see my hat? Exactly. It's, Jesus. Did you see my bumper stick? Someone talk to me. Like, it's just that. So, my family won't visit anymore.

So we get mad about my hat so I can say I'm persecuted. Yeah. Yeah. So, 22 will do it. He's just going to like, he'll like pipe down. Sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you. What was that last part there? Did you say that yes, you have had a collarbone and it's excruciating? And you lost the use of your arm for like a couple weeks. Is that what you said? Whatever it was, I hope it was. I'm sorry. He's going to be mug the shit at you and just kind of like throw a coin on the table. But like, mostly look at a night here and just like, And then it's like kind of skulk out into the into the cold and yeah, just leave.

Just get out of here. Yeah. I said he has a problem. Yeah. So Loggerna'll literally just like just pat the next person over on the shoulder. Like, hey, what was a guy's name who got killed? We'll empty this place out if we have to. It's just. Yeah. Yeah. Part of me is like, give me another D20, but it's like, no, no, no, no, let's not. Uh, let's not. I didn't catch you. I just knew it was a vampire. I don't know any personally. So I don't know. All right. Intimidate. I mean, you could check in with the city. All right. Well, nobody knows his name. We'll find out though, Neferra.

We'll find out. Ruby's probably back with coffee at this point. She's catching back up. And with coffee in her a little bit. She's already halfway through it, by the way, by the time she sits back down. Yeah, we've got a lot to do. So we should probably focus on, you know, the kids, the gear hard. I want to be able to make some upgrades a little bit or at least tighten something up. But clean up the blood. Oh, God. Don't remind me. Are you okay, by the way? She's gonna like all of a sudden like, well, wait, oh my God, I haven't even asked you. Are you all right?

Um, yeah, I think so. I haven't done any spells or anything on. on me, except for maybe this, and I'm sure, look down at the hole. Yeah, someone did. Fine. It's working, everything's working as intended, I think. You'll let us know if anything gets weird. Yeah, if there's any fur sprouting or anything like that, but I think it's handled. Unrelated to you, Chimera. But Lager, perhaps we should look into acquiring some silver. That is our fifth or sixth wear creature we've faced in like two weeks. Honestly, that would be a good investment at this point. It pays for itself.

That's true. We got to go to Lopford, too. That's a really good idea. We should do that. Well, put it on the list. Yeah, you'll get out his notebook and everything. It's over. Heavy. We're picking up more metal than I ever pictured that we would be picking up. You know what I mean? Can I ask a question? Jameson. You was Logrin said just a few minutes ago, we have lots of stuff to do. What does Logrin, what does the checklist for Logrin look like? Because, you tend not to list things out verbally. So let me pick your brain here. What's Logrid thinking? It's like, okay, we got to do this.

So kids and the car and everything like that is on everybody else's to do list. And I'm sure yours is a bit more concise and pragmatic. Probably. Yeah. So I mean, we want to check in on the car and give Ruby an opportunity to fix that. We want to check in with the kids and see how they've been doing. They had a list of errands they were supposed. to run for us. So we wanted to ask them about that. I think that not necessarily trying to meet up with him, but we would probably try to see if the surviving quick bolt is around and how he's doing. If he still feels like helping us out like he was originally going to.

And then we were, we were waiting to hear back from Brax about some, a meeting that was going to get set up. Mm-hmm. So we'd maybe start poking around and turn it over, and turn an overstone. And then. about that maybe. Good Lord. How do you want to tackle this list? What do you want to start with? I think that probably the most pressing thing is getting back in touch with the kids. First of all, you know, make sure to see how they've been getting on these past few days. And then see if they got any information we were looking for. Last two weeks. We were like, we're going for like four days.

So. Yeah. So longer than we meant to. That's probably a little. Well, it's been a couple days. We should probably. Probably check in on. Oh, shit. It's been two weeks. What do they get up to in two weeks do you think? Yeah. Scrappy, they'll figure it out. Well, you know that where they're supposed to be or where they were supposed to be. let's say, 10 days ago, was toward the center of the city, which automatically, you go, ah, that's probably not great. Like, you just, like, there are tens of thousands of people in this city. It stands to reason that no one would know the name of the person who got murdered, right?

But you figure there's a 50-50 chance that one of the kids had said. something to do with what happened in some way, shape, or form. Not the murder, but being around when it happened. You know what I mean? They might know something more than others. They might know something. So here's what we're going to do. Let's just make our way to the center here. Where, you know, town hall is and there's the courthouse. There's all kinds of like centralized big parts of Estherhold. There's even an old temple that's been corded, cornered off. Like no one, no one's allowed to really go in there.

That's the old temple of cord. So it was corded off. Corred it off. Yeah. Thank you. So here's what we're going to do. I need. Oh, boy. I need a volunteer. I'll like to volunteer if I need to. I'll go. All right. Thank you. Give me a D100, please. A D12. Here we go. Do you have an illness. Somebody you'll let me do it. Until then, it's a 34. The last time I did, you rolled exceptionally well, and I feel like I've been on the back foot ever since. No more D12. So the closer you get to the center of the city, the more you realize there is a hubb. There are paladins everywhere.

There's cityguards. There's investigators. There's a lot of stuff going on. So the area, there's basically two ways to go. There's a very large circle here around the center of town. And if you go to the left, they have that area kind of taped off and there's people everywhere. And I want anybody. any trained in perception to give me a roll, please. It's not a thing. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Wow. How many inspirations can I have? Yeah. Because that's two now. That's two in a row, right? Yeah, I think you can only have one at a time. So do you want to re-roll that one?

Yeah. Because that's another crit one. I roll, like in inspiration. So. Yeah. Yeah. No, you can only hold one at a time. So you're going to have to. There's better. Way better. 21. You're going to have to kill something in town. Like that you got a like. Hey, I thought I broke the curse. Remember my other perception? That was great. Yeah, but that was coming into the city. You've now spent a night sleeping. You're lost all that mojo. You haven't killed anything this day. Okay. So like we're going to have to like. You'll point me towards the murderer then. I should have got that guy at breakfast, you know, just to, Well, Gagrin was holding me back.

He was not. That might have been a phaie. That might have been like, all right, go get him. All right. Just get him and go out. So, 21, you're going to hear a lot of chatter. But you are going to hear the name Zira in there. So, they're also talking about. about a potential list of suspects and why this particular vampire was killed in this particular place. There's even talk that he was taken here, not necessarily walking around when this happened. Like the body was dropped here or something. So there's a lot. That just got me really excited because how do you do?

How do you do undead forensics? You know? Because like with... living people, their blood pools and stuff like that. But with dead people, like undead people, like, who's to say what that's about, you know? Without much blood, you know, how, I don't know how that works. The body's been here for at least 350 years. Yeah. Oh, no. We can tell, yeah. Also, it's cold all the time. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, vampires are a bit different than they were over a century. you go. Staking a vampire in the heart is a very good way to potentially kill them. And it's one of the ways they do not turn to ash.

Decapitating a vampire, boom, they go right up. Um, uh, fire, they don't like it. Uh, I'm currently writing a very long-winded document about it. And I'll get it to you guys, but that ain't done. So what you need to know is this feels like the type of way you'd kill a vampire if you wanted to send a message or make it public. Because if you cut their head off, they burst into flame and die. They turn into ash, right? You set them on fire. That's a much noisier way to do that. But there's a good chance they'll turn into ash. Same thing with sunlight. But this was a way to kill a vampire where you're like, no, no, no, no, we want the body out.

And it's in the center of town. Like, it couldn't be more public and showy, you know? Were they in front of a particular building? Is it something we can tell? So right now, there's a very large tavern there. But the tavern itself doesn't really have any ties to any, any, any political figures, or, you know, it doesn't cater to one side of the palatins of the other, or the city guard, or anything. It's just the largest tavern in town. And it's almost. the opposite of Ruby's aesthetic, right? This is like mega bonzos, right? It is very posh, polished wood, like, brass bars everywhere.

It's, you need a, you almost need like a coat and tie to come in, like that type of place. Mm-hmm. That's an olive garden. Hmm. It's, well, when you're there, you are family. At some point, would, uh, Ruby, Would you have mentioned what you heard that you had heard Zera's name at all, Athera? Because Ruby was Ruby's role was by the way, was a nine, right? So not so great. Yeah. Would you? I don't think she would. I think she would. I think she would compartmentalize. And we're on this task right now. now. And I don't want to deal with the emotions that tied to that right now.

Sure. Because I think it's very complicated. Because I'm still trying to figure it out. Because it was a one-time lover and Nifer had to be very emotionally vulnerable. So it was probably a very special thing for her. But that doesn't necessarily mean that their connection means anything. It's more so I spared. I shared this. special moment with this person. They didn't deserve to die. So I don't know how she would react. So basically, I think right now she's, well, that's a lot to process. Let's not. I get that. Sure. Yeah. So the 34-year-old. You're going to get to the spot where the kid should be.

And it's basically. basically just a little, like, it's a front, right? They're supposed to be there, they're supposed to be taught some, some, some, some, some, some, it's like, hey, just kind of, this is a way to stick to the background and everything. And not only is that person not there, those kids are long gone. You're getting the sense that this little house has been abandoned for at least a week. Now, while that is frustrating, this one's kind of on you. A three-day tour turned into two weeks. Hey, folks, Jasper here. Sorry to interrupt everything.

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Kind of. I'm not, I'm not. I'm not. This is chat not following directions again. Once again. This sounds like what this is chat saying it's our fault. Yeah. This is on you. This is on you. Count it down the 72 hours and we're gone. Like just just on you. He seems like a real letter of the agreement type guy. Malicious compliance type of Yes. 72 hours, I'm out of here. You're 70 to. It's three days. Yeah. God, he is absolutely the type to, like, when it crosses over into midnight. Well, you told me that yesterday. Yeah. So can we get into this place or is it just boarded up or locked or something like that?

It is just a small, it's just a little house. It's just a little like. Yeah. It's, yeah. And empty. Ruby would just be kicking around in there just huffing and puffing. Like, God damn it. Looking for anything like picking up mattress or whatever. purchase anything to find any sort of clue or any sort of note or any sort of writing on the wall or anything at all to show where these kids might have gone. Anything at all? Give me an investigation check. I'll do it. That's a 12. You want to add a D4 because I'm also trained in it. I'd love to add the D4. That cannot work.

Because the teamwork. It does make the dream work. It does make the dream work. And that's what Logren's yelling from the other room. And don't forget the teamwork. Tell you what, I'm also going to roll my my once a day, uh, D4 expertise die. So I've got a 14. Good Lord. Just okay, you did it. Like let's stop rolling dice at me. Just go out. Tell us where they went. I want to. If I'm going to find out anything, I wanted to be good. So, okay. This is a very small place. And they were staying here to keep out of trouble, right? And let me see. With that, got like an 18 somewhere in there.

Like, you're doing great. This place does not appear to have a ton of food in it. There's a couple of cans. There's like some dried meats and stuff. but like nothing, nothing great. There's also not a lot to keep kids entertained, but there were. There were some drawers full of different outfits. It almost looks like costumes and stuff like that. Like if you were backstage at a play or something, it's like, well, here's my red wig. And here's it, you know, kind of like rudimentary. Here's how you blend in with crowds and stuff. Now, there are only a couple of mattresses.

One kind of like padded A straw mattress type of thing is on the floor But then there's a bed Obviously belonging to the person who you know Who was supposed to be watching them There is a decent size blood stain On the mattress As soon as that Yeah sorry go ahead No I was going to be a date. Go for it. You I think you can get a basic. Look, adventures see blood spots all the time, right? So you kind of, you, so okay, first thing you do is you kind of like, okay, is this still wet? Not really. Like it, you know, so that means with this being in a mattress, like it would have stayed kind of moist for a while.

So you're saying, like, it's like, this is at least a week old, maybe a little more. Yeah, I mean, as soon as Ruby sees any blood at all, she would motion over for Nythera to just come check it out. She just point at it, not say anything, but just, this is your domain. Nightthera would see if this is investigate to some extent, like, is this, was someone's femoral artery cut, was this from? Yeah, where was it on the bed, too? Yeah, where was it? Or is it in the head? Leg arm, torso. Like where you would be laying in bed and stuff. This, like, you're not exactly sure how they laid in bed.

Are you a side sleeper? Are you? But you're pretty sure that this, it looks like someone was hit. Like upper, upper shoulder, something like that. Like upper, like arm shoulder, like chest somewhere in there. Near enough to the heart that. it would be a big problem, but definitely not enough blood loss to be a major artery or anything. So it looks like someone may have been attacked in their sleep, but there's no body and there's no, you know, like if someone had died in that spot, there would just be so much more blood, right? Unless they were on dead.

Don't know. So Ruby would turn to Logrin, be like, they're gone. gone. There's blood. There's blood. It may have nothing to do with them. So, Logren's pretty mad because, and he's a, he'll just like, he'll come stomping around into the room and look at the blood and just be like, this is why we never tell anybody the plan. Who knows who they're talking to now? Now they're gone. Could have gone straight to Stone Sunder. Who knows? Her goddamn mother's a Stone Sunder. Oh, that's an interesting take. Okay. Go with that. Elaborate. I'm going to go all the way to Stone's under with it.

No, I go. All the way to the top. All the way to the top. How far does this go? She was a sleeper agent the whole time. I mean, that's kind of what you say. That is something you say to the group where I think everyone else is like, What are these kids? Do it? But like, you're more, God, I got, I knew it. I knew it. This is what we keep. Why he's kept it close to the chest this entire time is we finally let these kids in. And now like they just, they packed up and left. We don't know where they are. I think Ruby would would genuinely immediately feel like, oh my God, he's right.

God, she would, and she'd make the face and sort of turn around. Wait a second, guys. It looks like someone was attacked here. So let's take a step back. They may be in danger. They may have done it. She's absorbing the unpissed off. Just reflecting that negative. Yeah. Yeah. So Loggerne's going to start like counting off on his fingers. There's four of them. Check couldn't fight worth a ship. But the other three could. Whoever got attacked here, there is no other signs of any kind of There's no way for them got attacked in here with no other. Nothing's broken.

There's no other blood. And there's no evidence of anything. Whatever happened there. Maybe they just got bored and they're looking for fun. I mean, we were gone a pretty long time. I know if I was a kid, I would want to get out and... And they stabs someone? I mean, you know, a good time's a good time. I'm not judging. Seems like people get stabbed here. a lot, actually. It's Estherhold, baby. Stabbing us down and there are. You know there's something wrong when I'm the one going, hey, maybe stabbing isn't the first response they had. Are we sure that this blood wasn't here before?

Like, did somebody? Did we check this out? That's about seven days, maybe six and a half days old. Oh, okay. All right, no, you're the expert. Sorry, Jason. I'm just trying to make her seem like. No, no, no. I mean, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's your wheelhouse. I'm just saying, you probably flipped a mattress over at that point, right? Like, it's like, I'm not sleeping on that. It came with the house, fine, but like, you know. Well, we could put feelers out. Just see if we can find them at all. If they are in danger, then maybe it's on us to try to figure it out.

Hey, if somebody did get hurt, maybe they had to get some healing potions. She looks at chimera. We could try the apothecary. And then she kind of pulls down her shirt. She's like, I haven't even checked out my tattoo. What's happening with it? Oh, it's 20% off. 20% off. We could actually start life if we needed to. Tattoo just says, help, help. They're stabbing me. If you use code lobster, it's like, if you use code, lobstone, I'm being You get free shipping. I'm being assaulted with an amazing comic book. So Ogring just kind of rolls as ice. You can go ask, but we're not buying anything.

I'm almost out of money. It's ridiculous. Aren't we just saying I needed silver? I need the money for silver. to roll a deception. We all know he's lying. We all know. Yeah, we all know. There's a visible corn pouch that's like jingling every time we want. We have a big dollar sign on it. Yeah. It sounds like you might want to split up. Is that what I'm hearing? Maybe. Let's leave something here too for in case they come back here. that lets them know that we're here. You got one of your... You got one of your stones? I'm going to wait here. Oh, well. There you go.

That'll be the face that they want to see right there. That one, yeah. What do you mean? What do you mean? Actually, this would be amazing. Could you imagine? Can you imagine chit walking in the room and seeing it? that face. She's pointing right at Lagerin. Oh my God. Yeah. Don't think they're coming back. All right, fine. What's your idea? I could get in touch with some of my contacts in town that we established and see if they know what of the kids whereabouts. All right, that's a better idea. Let's figure out. Either they're in trouble or they screwed us. Either way, we need to figure out where they are.

And if they're really good, if they've been working on their skills, then no one will have heard of them or seen them. It feels unlikely. I don't think they're that good yet. I don't either, but I was trying to give them a benefit of the doubt. out of character question jason how many goliaths have we seen just at all right they're kind of rare um yeah i i'd say there's like one goliath for every thousand people you see right so right so like since leaving winter haven even right like we've seen aside from aside from our guy we've seen like what two Maybe.

Yeah. It's pretty rare. So I feel like that's a good way to lead, right? Like, he stands out. So. See how you could laugh. Where are we going? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, where? Now I, man. We probably all are together. But nice year along the way, we'll just, hey, criminal. I see you have thieves can't over this door. Have you seen these people? Like. Stop criminal scum. Well, that's probably how they get in touch with each other. They leave those little markings outside. You're like, this is a good place to fence items. Sure. I mean, in a pig city, it's not hard to find, right?

Like, if you know where to look, it's, it's, yeah. So what do you ask? Like, okay, what are you looking for? And then what would you be trying to ask, I guess? This is the specifics. Have you seen four young adults? Very identifiable because one is a Goliath. Generic male. Teeflin. Wow. And half-self. This is a villain origin story. You guys are going to bully him into huge sword compensating for something. thing. Trying to deny noble heritage. Yeah. If there are any potential street kids around, Ruby would try to do the same thing just to ask around for probably just to ask.

And hey, have you seen a Goliath? Yeah. Make it simple. And you are going to get bits and pieces of information. So, okay, there's a couple of potion shops in town. Obviously, there's bottomless bottles, right? That's the big one. That's the... That's the one. And they were definitely there, but they did get kicked out at one point. Not for stealing. They asked too many questions and wanted to know how to reproduce some of the more explosive things. And you're getting... By the description, you're getting... Okay, that was vetty. And like, you're just kind of like moving through.

It's like, okay, okay. So we can narrow it down by interest. And then like, did they have a giant nine-year-old with them? Did they have a big ass Goliath? And it's like, okay. So you're starting to get like a, a, a, a, you're casting a net. Right. You're getting. It's like so. But a lot of these sightings, they're like, yeah, that that was like, it was like weeks ago or something. They haven't been around since then. So you're getting a net. getting the sense that when you left them alone, they really explored this area a lot and mess. They didn't commit any crimes or anything, but they were just kids, you know, doing shit.

Mostly annoying the local, like, workforce. And then they just disappeared. They were just gone. I think at that point, we switched to asking town guards, people who were posted up on like the, out like the gates of the town. We can go back to the guys at the gate that we came in. They'll remember us. Oh, yeah. That's one of those things where it's like, the night shift has to tell day shift. It's like, so keep an eye. I'm fucking werewolves, I guess. Actually, I'm looking around at this map of the town. There's only one road in and out. That's the, like, the visible road.

There's lots of little alleyways and stuff like that. But I didn't feel like drawing all that. Okay. Through the wall. Okay. Oh, through the wall. There's one. Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, if they left Asterole, they would have had to do so through that one gate. Yes. So I think that's a good place to go. Absolutely. If nobody's seen these kids in a week is what it sounds like, then I think the next place to go to the town guard at the gate. So by this point, it's, it's afternoon. You've been around the city. Like, you're, you're getting to the point now where it's like 2 p.m. somewhere in there.

And you head back to the gate. You're asking, you're just asking, it's like, hey, have four kids come through here, big askelyath? And like, you know, like, just kind of. And they, they will help you out because you're, it's, it's. It's almost like you're not necessarily filing a missing person's report. But it's like, hey, these are kids. And like, they were supposed to be in a spot. They're not here. So that's a good way to get their attention. It's like, oh, okay. Well, we'll check the records. Hold on because they do mark down who passes to the gate because it's seldom enough that, you know, it's almost an event, right?

So they're checking. They're checking. I don't see anyone, any group of kids that fits that description. And just. I went back three weeks. I'm not seeing it. All right. Well, if anybody does go through, be a big, big favor to us if you were to maybe just give them a hard time, slow them up a little bit. Well, we can hold them. If they're kids, then they're, you know, we could just let them know you're looking for them. Oh, yeah. Just do that then. Yeah. Don't tell them. Just hold on to them. And then we'll. We'll catch up. These kids are missing and we don't know why.

So we're just trying to figure it out before we. You know what I mean. Kids, right? Do tell them that they think. Go ahead. Sorry. Do tell them that they're going to want to see what we've got, though. You saw the car, right? That's what he's talking about. Yeah. Oh, okay. Don't tell them what it is. Just tell them. Just tell them. They're going to want to see it. Oh, you're the freaks. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, hey, why's a thing always warm? So they're like, don't ask. Don't ask the answer. We got like three hulks in the back because of that. You're welcome. You're welcome.

So there's a little, there's a second where you're like, oh, don't tell them we're looking for him. It's like, that's weird. And then the, they're going to want to know what I got for him. like that kind of thing. It's like, that's weird. Oh, and you have a van. So when you, when you say, it's like, okay, yeah, just kids, right? They're like, oh, yeah, no problem. We'll make sure they're safe. And we'll just kind of keep my side. And yeah, you staying where are you staying? So she's. You get such a fucking look because now we have to stay there. His Loggerin's about to be like, well, we'll just stay at this cheap place.

And he's like, Fuck. Oh, yeah, I know that place. I've always wanted to stay there. Seems like a really nice joint. It is really nice. It's so good. Yeah. It's real good. So there. Yeah, okay. Go. No problem. We'll get a hold of you if they come through. We'll check back in tomorrow. And go. Logrin. This is kind of a long shot. but the last time we were here, this is where we went for food, and I noticed that they didn't have it, but we could try Bonzo's dark. Largreens having a fucking day, and now you're going to go out of popular again. Also, Bonzo's Dark is on the opposite side.

I said to the other side of town, and the warming, and it was just a vampire murder, and so he just stops and just like pinched the bridge of his nose. He just like, pinches the bridge of his nose. This is the opposite. opposite of a productive day. Like, this is just walking from the entire day. Looking for these kids. We can go back to the room and get some snacks. You can put your feet up for a little bit. Like, we can take a little break. Knock that off. I don't stop because I need a break. I just don't want to go to Bonzo. It's so loud. We don't even have to go in.

We can just ask. Maybe we're seen around. I don't know. Trying to get scraps or something. Maybe they were hanging around there because they just know to go there. I don't have to go in. It is like a third of the city. I mean, we do kind of need to go check on them to see if they're there. Bonzo's dark aside. We should check the glowing district. You're right. Yeah. I'm worried about your friend. Me too. It's so weird. I wonder if he had anything to do with it. I didn't like the way he looked. I didn't like the way he talked. And he told him to leave, but there's no way he left.

No. I got weird vibes from that guy, for sure. Oh, he's a weird guy. That's 100% yet. There's no, there's nothing good about him being around. Like, he may not have had the chutzpah to stab a vampire, but something doesn't add up and smells all over. I'm going to walk right by that. We got to squeeze chutzpah in more. Let's do that. Yeah, so we are absolutely though hiring a ride to the other side of town. We're not going to be in. You're caving and you're getting an Uber. Like, okay. I'm going to run out of money by the end of this. I'm pissed. So we can't take the gear on.

Why are you saying? Just drive the gear on. Oh, man. I mean, you can't. You can try it. Ruby will not let it happen. I don't feel like that's right. Come on, Ruby, come on. It's not ready. It's not ready. It's not ready. It's not ready. It's too many. It would be. Okay. This would like, okay, this is like if you guys piled into a cyber truck and drove through Amish country. Like, you would be so out of place and they would look at you with such disdain. It's a fucking spaceship. And it's probably so loud. Yes. I mean, we haven't built it for luxury yet. It's just function.

So it sounds like a rock tumbler having sex with a washing machine. And it's just constantly warm. So yeah, no, it's just nice when you see it like that. Yeah. It's almost soothing. Just that brown noise you need to go to sleep. That would fix me. So to get So it's like 10 gold to get to the other side of the city in a carriage to like get so like Because that's fast. The entire is ridiculous. But you know it's going to take like three hours to walk from one side of the city. I'm going to have this guy. What do I have to roll? There's no way I'm getting it.

Oh, it's peak hours too. Yeah. Yeah, they have that. And there's a whole traffic thing in the center of town because of the Bonnie. Right. That's a detour. No, I said, don't take the bridge. Yeah, you should go off the road. Otherwise, they'll just run up your meter, you know? You know what? At this point, give me an intimidation check. Just go out of the time. At the point in the day. Yeah, Logger is done. I think your basic tone would have so much grumble in it. Oh, okay. He's just a grumpy man now. Yeah. That's so. Okay. This is just like in my house when I go to Walmart and I'm not taken seriously.

It's like, no, guys, this sucks. And it's like, oh, it's okay. It's like, no. Stop. I'm mad. No, it's taking me seriously. You're so mad. Look at you. You're so man. Kids are paying me back for this. That's ridiculous. So he's just going to. It's like every dad at Disney World at 5 p.m. It's like just getting a fucking. Carriage. I've heard it all before. Yeah. So you're staying at the most expensive place in town. You have wasted the entire day casing this place, ending up with absolutely nothing. And now you're paying to get to the other side of the city so that you can go to Bonzo's Dark.

This is your hell. This couldn't get worse for you. It was so much nicer in the DoorGar City. I just want to go back. In those featureless rooms, with the humorous people. Everything was so far apart, but it wasn't crowded. There was no, you know, it was very structured. I was consciously made my old condo. I think. It's like, look, I had a salt and pepper shaker. There were paper towels. That was it. That's all we needed. And I washed it when I needed it. Exactly. Yep. It was made of stone. Very durable. So, can I... What's everyone's passive perception? 16. 18. God.

Damn. I have to re-contextualize everything I ever ask you for now on with that. Because I figured, ah, like 14's probably the cap. Nope. With 18. you're going to be. And it's getting dark. Now, it's getting to the point where it's, there's four of you in this carriage, two of you sitting one way, two of you sitting the other, and I just picture Logron, like, arms folded. Just, just like, I have to ask you guys a question. Are you in full regalia? Are you wearing armor and shit in the city? Because that's got to make this ten times more miserable. I don't know.

Nishthera would. Two sets of paladins and guards. Yeah. But then they're all mad at each other. I don't know. That's fair. Nythero would be wearing armor. Right, but it's leather. Yeah, that's why. I'm mostly asking logger and guys. I'm trying to say. I got to know which way this carriage is tilting while while hurry down the streets. I'll tell you. I'll tell you, we probably had it on. when we started the day. But after talking to these guards, he's like, I'm going to get changed. I'm stopping in the hotel. 10 minutes of him taking. It's this object. Rasm, frasim, the whole time, just swearing to himself.

The part in the day where you're mad at your jacket for not coming off the way you think it should. Yeah. He gets his boot stuck and he gets more mad at that. Yeah. So he's just having a day, man. I've never identified with a character more in my entire life. This is wonderful. You get so mad, you start making mistakes and it just makes you more mad. Right. Your fucking jackets aren't made the way they should be, stupid jacket. As you're driving back past the center of town, the alleyway in which that house where the kids were supposed to be staying is down like out of the corner of the corner of Rye Nithe here is going to see someone like push open the door and go away. in.

And this looks to be someone dressed, dressed as if they're looking for a fight. They are wearing armor. They have, they have multiple weapons on them. Just the glimpse of it, you're like, whoa, but with an 18, you clock a threat. You know what I mean? If it were like a puppy, that's not your wheelhouse, but this is. Someone just entered the kid's safe house, fully armed. All right, stop the cart. We're only paying you this far. There's a part of me that looks. It's like, I already charge you to the full fare. I can't just stop. I don't want to, though. But he's like, okay, five gold.

We'll call it five gold. Five gold. Fine. All right. We got to six gold and you wait here. Okay. We will be back. Ruby's looking at. We will be back. She's been Broncos, yeah. Yeah. Oh, I thought it was because like the kids, it's like, look. Oh, no, no. We're going out for milk, but we will be back. Like, don't worry. All right. So I guess we're piling out of this cart and following night there, right? Okay. What did you even see? Arm disdalen entering. God damn it. She's powering up. How do you want to approach this? My fear would probably take point and like hold you guys back a little bit.

Let me scope it out. Okay. Yeah, Ruby's powered up and ready to risk ballista or jump in if needed. But she's doing it. it from a distance. Probably not across the street, but waiting a little bit further down the street. Maybe like at the end of the alley as Naird goes in. Yeah. Oh, okay. I thought we were like on either side of the door ready to slice the pie. Yeah. I mean, halfway between, I think. Ruby's ready to pounce in, but she's also ready for Nithera to do her thing. Gotcha. Gotcha. Like John has the knives waiting for me in the kitchen. That's right.

Just behind the scenes to get that joke. Yes. The joke is Susan's husband's trying to murder her. There you go. Funny joke. But he's a lovely joke. It's a lovely joke. It will be on a podcast. No, he's a very lovely murder. Yeah. He's a very lovely murder. You can't buy that kind of press, though. Give me a stealth check, please. How about a 28? Yeah, okay. That will do it. Bye. Yeah, damn. Your... Let me do something now. Hmm. Oh, come on. There you go. Ha-ha. Oh, perfect. Okay, so you're going to come sneaking up to this door, which is kind of open, like, just a bit, a jar, right?

And you're kind of like push it open just a bit just a bit and slip inside. And at first you're not going to see anything. And you're going to see someone kind of like lean out and look at you like equally stealthy, equally doing that, but kind of playfully like, hello, like that type of thing. It's like, I'm stealthy too. They are dressed in all leather. They have a great sword on their back. They have multiple knives hidden in different spots. They are coded in different weaponry. And he has a crossbow, like, ready. Like, just not aimed at you, but just...

Hello, my lady. My theory is going to put our fingers in the mouth and let out a whistle. We come running. Yeah. We're there. A split second inside. Lager and Kool-Aid man's through the wall. Except he's not armored. She just here and thump on the other side. He's just kind of a slight head tilt. It's a bit dramatic, isn't it? We don't need all this. And he's going to put the crossbow on the bed as like a show of, Now we can all be friends. Ruby hasn't let her wrist ballista down. Like she's, she's just pointing. Big toothy grin, kind of sharp teeth, teethling, big horn swoop back.

Like, yeah. What are you doing here? Well, I was investigating a recent monster sighting. That's what I do. I hunt them. The name's Thane. And your name? None of your concern. What monster? He's gonna... He's gonna look to Kimera. Is she always like this? You're lucky she's like this. And he's gonna just lock eyes with Nithera. Kind of like, kind of rest his hands like right in front of himself. Like, just okay, go right ahead. What monster are you looking for? Well, I try not to get my hopes up, but it sounds like a werewolf. Weirwolf peltz pay triple. In this day and age, A man could make a fortune.

In the woods, your way is away. That way over there, it ran off into the woods. Its head was on fire, actually. So you missed it by a mile. Couldn't have been more obvious. That was last night. Long gone. He's, so he's going to like, like, hold on, like just raising his hands. And then he's going to reach into this, this leather coat he has, kind of pull out some parchment. And he's got these little reading glasses he has to put on. Oh, this one says it came from the city. Went out with an expedition about a week ago, something like that. Yeah, his name was Clef.

And he attacked us at the gates yesterday. He's not doing so great now. Hmm. Hmm. We weren't even hunting, and we got more information than you. So if you want to go ahead and just go find the werewolf, his head was on fire. I'm sure you can track it. You look very capable. Well, thank you. I do appreciate it. What brought you here, though? I feel like we've been over this. I'm tracking a werewolf. And... Aga, I understand. What do you think the werewolf was here? Oh, I know the werewolf was here. At least at some point. And he's doing to... Oh, now you want to work together.

Your friend here was very snippy with me just a moment ago. I'm having a day. You know, you should try bombsos. It's a wonderful little restaurant. It's really good. It's actually really, really good. Is that your blood? by the way. Is that your blood? She's, she snows back into it. Like, on the bed? No. But I have reason to believe that the person who was stabbed was a werewolf. He's going to try and like lower it. There may even be an epidemic within the city and I, oh, I'm never that lucky, but one or two will still fetch a healthy price. I think your werewolf is a different wolf.

Cliff isn't who I'm looking for. That means that backs up my hypothesis. There's at least two from the city. My theorist of him looks a logger, I told you we needed silver. That's like seven in a week. You don't have silver? Locker looks at this guy. I'm buying silver, you have any? Oh, none for sale. I'm sorry. A werewolf hunter without silver isn't much of a werewolf hunter, I think you'll agree. Yeah, but if you don't have extra, I'd say that's pretty bad, too. Right, but my extra is my extra, Mr. Sniffy. I don't know. You know, anywhere we could get some for a deal.

Wholesale. He's very well aware. He is pissing loggren the fuck off. And he's going to, he's going to smile. I actually know a place where you can get a discount if you mention my name. Would that help? That would be great thing. He'll reach out his hand to shake yours, considering using the nicest out of the group so far. Ashanté. Camira, by the way, love your horn. Thank you. Fane's silver fox. Yes, fuck me. Okay. Well, Thane, as you seem to have information about this location in particular, Maybe you can assist us. There were four children staying here that we're trying to locate.

Perhaps you have any information on them. Again, he's got these little readers on. Yes. Well, this last sighting is from a week ago, but they did appear to be alive. I don't think they were here when the incident took place. If I had to take a stab at it, I would say a lesser monster hunter came in, tried to assault the man, and didn't finish the job. That all you got? Was that it? Was that it? I thought you were going to keep going, sorry. Oh, well, I'm not hunting children. Now, if you pay me, I can. can track some children. Aren't it the monsters by any chance?

I mean. In the way that children are monsters. More metaphorical monsters, yeah, right. I more meant the literal sense. If it helps and you need proof of my skill, You, sir, are not all you appear to be. And he's going to look dead at chimeras, like just like rate the eyes. Oh, well, flattery will get you everywhere. What do you think I am? I think you're packing a little something extra, if you know what I'm saying. Always. I've been happy to show you, but. these people don't like to be an audience. Oh, God. Ruby's rolling eyes. Oh, shit, there's two of them.

Oh, no. They're just going to feed each other until there's no hair in the room. At this point, she just, she's dropping her wrist balista. She's just done with all of this. Like, this isn't going anywhere. She's bored. I think what you must be referring to is by incredible. character. Again, just kind of smile and he's going to drop it. Well, this has been lovely. I look forward to running into you all again, but I do have work to do. And wherewolves move fast. So I do. And he's going to try and brush past you all after picking up his crossboat off the bed.

Yeah. I mean, Ruby shrugs. I don't know. I just as he goes by, I just, I lean in. And I don't make a big thing about it, but I do lean in and whisper, I'm at the silk sheets. Just very quick. Almost imperceptible. Yeah. A lovely place. Yeah. Well, that was weird. All of that. We're nowhere closer to anything, and I'm getting even more hungry. And the kids were staying with a werewolf? I don't understand. They are monsters. We do know a good place to get silver, though. Not that that's going to help us find kids. One problem at a time, though. I'll mark it on the list.

Well, let's see if that taxi's still waiting for us. I gave him a whole goal. He better be. I'll find him. Just stop. Talks a lot of you guys tonight, I feel. Like, there's a lot. At Logring. Yeah, more than tonight. I'm going to tell you a story, which is exactly like feeding into what, how Mad Lageren is. I had a weekend. Oh, no. I'm not role-playing at all right now. Oh, no. You are in the midst of moving houses, four doors down and running a kick starter. I'm sure you got a lot going on. Oh, no. I wish that was the worst to my weekend. No. I'll tell you about later.

Okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. back in the cap, back in the Uber. We're going to, we're crossing over. Now, the reception getting into the gloaming quarter is a little, it's a little tenser than it was last time because, you know, you're just going to get some looks, basically. Is this driver, sorry, is this driver weird about it like the last driver was? I think it's more understandable this time. Sure. Because of all the tension. Yeah. Oh, shit. Really? I don't think going into it. It's like, hey, we're going to Bonzo's dark. It's like, oh, okay, cool. Like, I don't think, like, a pretty chill guy, closer he gets to those gates to the gloaming quarter, it's like, oh, I'm getting looks.

Like, they do not. Okay. Okay. So probably stop just out, like, just. past the gate. It's like, okay, that's, that's as close as, uh, I think I've got to get tonight because they're staring, they're, they're staring a bit. And I, I don't want to step on any toes. It's kind of sensitive right now. That's all right. We know where we're going. You didn't drive the whole way though. So I can't give you the whole ten. Give him the whole. He's, he's just, he's just not doing what he said he would do. So it's fine. We'll just do. We'll do nine. Nine is fine. It is customary to give a tip.

I'm not going to push for it. It's fine. It's just, it's fine. Straight me on the app. Please. That's all I ask. I try and give him some bonzo's dark coupons. These are good for the chicken fingers only. Yeah, this is all I got. They're pretty good. A good chicken fingers, though. They're pretty good. They have homemade dip. It's my number to die for. Sorry. Sorry. I got. Really bother. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to Monzo's dog. Apparently, uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We got to keep going. I've got to say with a pulse, but that's not where we're at, so. Yeah. No. Yeah. No, I get me with, well, I'm going to go inside.

No, that's right. Just making a mistake. Yeah. Keeps giving looks till you do it. Here's eight. Fine. Here's nine. God damn. Here's ten. Nine and a silver. Yeah. I think at one point, ninth year of pickpockets, loggering, just to get an extra gold for the other tip. My massive perception is 10, so you do it. It's fine. It's probably how you've been funding things this whole time. Yes. Yeah. Between Ruby and I. Oh, yeah. Ruby's like, I'll get it. I'll get this one. And it's all Lagerin's money. She just gets allowance, like, basically. Because what do you guys let me carry it?

Shit's heavy. Yeah. The only one who can carry it. Yes. Walking piggy bank for you. Going into Bonzo Stark. This place is jumping. By the time you finally get there, you have spent the entire day. It's very dark by this point. You're just so all the lights are lit here in the quarter and they're trying to like, they're, they're trying to lighten the mood a bit because stuff is tense. Obviously, within the vampire community, there are different, you know, different community leaders. People want to handle this differently. They understand that, you know, they can't just go interrogating people in the streets.

But they're worried that the city's not going to try necessarily as hard to solve this murder as they would if it weren't a vampire. So there's a lot of tension. But at Bonzo's, it's, you can't argue if it's just train whistles. It's very difficult to. So they're organ music's blaring and stuff. And the second you walk in, you're going to see all four of the kids. Dancing and having a good time with. several different vampires. Oh, my God. Uh, Jasper, I need you to do my favor. Roll the D4. I will do it. That's a one. Of course it is. Okay, so you're gonna notice that everyone looks fine.

Like this, this, in the circumstances you have found yourself, is probably the best case scenario, right? They're all whole. They're... exception of Chet who looks much paler than the last time you left him. And I think it's a great time for us to stop for the night. Johnny. Of course. Oh, Chet. I'm looking forward to this conversation. Oh, my God. You wrote a one. I just, I get it. I get it. I get it. We should have not. We should know. I cost a lot of you guys tonight. It's a better if you were a werewolf. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We all know what happened. We all saw him with the Medusa, so we know what, we know how this happened.

Yes. Because that's fine and we shouldn't judge him for it. But we're gonna. For different reasons. Oh, my God. Oh, man. What the hell? Well, he has to live here now. Like, he has to. Now, now he lives here. I mean, maybe that's, maybe this is the best thing. He's got some roots. Yeah. Community, built-in support system. And the rest of the kids, I mean, can tag along with that. Basically, it's instant, you know, instant culture. Yeah. I'm looking for the bright side. I'm sure, but I'm sure nothing bad has happened. Here's the bright side. And now he gets his, knocked on his ass.

He can actually get back up again. Right. For his family. For his family. It's a stake through the heart or decapitation or if he gets set on fire. Those are rare. Those are pretty rare. If he's out during the day, you know. Well, that's just a no-brainer. Just don't do it. Well, yeah. And I don't go out during the day. Yeah. Well, I'll be like, fuck you, son. I'm going out. It burns a little bit as he lights on fine. You always tell me I can't go out during the day. I feel fine. I feel hard. I feel a hard.