Nothing But Trouble

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

Hey, quick question for all you fantasy readers out there. Do you ever get tired of every book being about saving the whole world from some doom lord perched on a distant lava mountain? Like, sometimes you just kind of want to curl up in a fantasy world without feeling like you're rolling initiative on every single page. But that sounds like you, you might want to give this one a try. It's a book called The Inside Shop by Gilhass. Wait, my copy says Inside Shop. Yeah, that's what I said. But it sounds like you're saying inside shop. Oh, okay. Nope. I get it.

I get the confusion. It's in-side shop. Like, uh, like besides an in. You know, uh, in spelled I-N-N. You know, like a tavern. Cozy beds, bad ale, the whole deal. Inside meaning it's next to the inn. There's a whole thing. So, yeah, the inn side shop. It's a cozy lit RPG about a 14-year-old tinker named Ren, who runs a the shop at the crossroads. The shop literally levels up. Customers come through to stock up at the local dungeon and Wren, the shopkeeper, is just trying to get through his day without blowing something up. It's low stakes, cozy, funny, and it scratches that I just want to hang out in a fantasy world age.

You can grab the inside shop on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com. You can read it on Kindle Unlimited, and the audio book drops this march on Audible. So, if you want something that feels like taking a long rest instead of fighting another world ending boss. Check out the inside shop by Gil Hess. That's Gill with 1L. Hey, everybody, Jasper here. Welcome back to Frostborn, Ark 6 of Dungeons and Randomness. Today, episode 32. We're in the last couple of weeks of DNR's latest casting call, running until December 31st, 2025. Come join us and help tell more stories in Theria.

Details are on our Discord, and a link is in our episode description. There's also a short. There's also a short announcement about it in the main feed if you scroll back a couple of episodes. Go check it out. Next up, if you're looking for a good place to start with dungeons and randomness or with Frostborn itself, good news. There's a full recap of episodes 1 through 20 in our feed. It takes 40 hours of the Frostborn story and boils it down to a single hour. Scroll down on the feed right after episode 20 and you'll find it. And please, if you love what we do here, share it with a friend and help us spread the word about DNR.

Reminder that D&R uses level-up advanced fifth edition from EN publishing as our gaming system. It springboards off of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition and makes our storytelling even richer. Code D-A-N-D-R gets you a discount. Link is in our episode description. All right, last time on Frostborn, Ruby finally got some alone time with the Gearheart, only to discover someone had already fixed it better than she had planned to. Very frustrating. Also, maybe kind of creepy. Elsewhere, Nithera sharpened more than her blades while committing to a murder investigation.

No one else seemed interested in solving. Logrin politely entered vampire politics, agreeing to a series of calm, reasonable conversations with extremely uncalm, extremely unreasonable implications. Meanwhile, Chimera explored some exciting new prospects that immediately tried to kill him. And just as everyone is feeling great about their decisions, the city gates have been closed. because a massive Minotaur army has arrived. This time, Esther Holt tightens around the party. Nitha continues to dig into that suspicious vampire murder. Ruby hears troubling news at the city gates, and Chimera's hunters finally make their move, forcing a dangerous bargain that could spiral fast.

Take it away, Jason. Let's do that thing. We go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Go around the table. Starting with Ian. Hey, I'm Ian. He him, Eni, and I play chimera, the Tiefling Warlock. And Susan. Hi, I'm Susan Spanator. My pronouns are she her. I'll be playing Nythera Rihilis, the Elven Rogue. And Jasper? Hey, everybody, I'm Jasper. He-him. I play Ruby Pedigrew, the half-orke Gearslinger Adept. And last and certainly not least, Jameson! Jameson! Hey, I am Jameson. I play Logger and Cragborn. He is a Dwarven Marshall. We did it!

We did everybody. Fullist dismount. Wow. Tense. You know what? Across the board. It's been, it's been a whole. Everybody give yourself inspiration. Oh, yay. We're doing it. Honestly, seriously, I'll take it. Okay. This is like episode 33 or so. So like that's. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Don't take it back. We deserve it. No, I'm putting effort. Went into it. You guys clearly. like you buckled in. I love it. We're locked in because there's shit to do. There's a lot of threads. So we talked about it, you know, in the behind the scenes, along with a lot of stuff, along with some weird stuff that apparently happened when I left.

But it is true. It is true. If, if, here's the thing, if we got a great gif of me for the visuals, I know I got a great audio for Susan. that can be used in streams or something. How do you get the behind the scenes, Jason? Oh, wow, I'm so glad you ask, fellow Jason. If you go to patreon.com slash d-a-n-d-R for just a dollar or two, just a dollar a two, you know, it's bare shekels you got in your couch cushions, but digital. And you can send them to us and we can live. And it's pretty nice. And then we give you a bunch of digital content for digital bucks.

It's a fair exchange. I mean, that's it. You nailed it. You know what? Give yourself inspiration. You did inspiration as well. I think everybody here gets another inspiration. Yes. No inspiration. I love that. I love that. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Jason is a surprise. I can't. I can't show weakness. The problem. So, speaking of, there's a lot of threats. Right now, you have crossed over from the glowing district back into the main city of Esther Holt. There is a gang looking for you, more specifically looking for chimera, more, more specifically looking to beat him to death.

And if they fail, then that means you're a... Your demon must be a pretty good patron. And then they're ready to, they're ready to hand over their souls to them. That's flawless logic. That's such good logic. I love the line. I love the line they're doing. Hashtag suck logic. I actually kind of want to share this is thug logic now. That should be the title. Hashtag dog. Oh, my God. So that's one thing that's happening. you may have a vehicle that repairs itself or alters itself in some way. You have a group of vampires that have asked you not to speak to a second group of amtires and will assist you in taking back stone-sunder as long as you'll look into a situation for them, which was the murder of one of their own in the city, which you were going to look into anyway, but now there's kind of a secondary reason. two.

Oh, yeah. There's an entire army of Minotaur at the front gate. Um, that's happening. And then Chats a thrall. Technically, that's the, that's the street term for it. You know, uh, you've got a bunch of simps ready to sign their souls over to Colgoth. Am I missing something? Blood rain. We have some paladins that are just simmering, like in the Korean kind of a turf war going on in the city. And then there's a modern army. There's a monster hunter that chimera wants to bang. Yeah. And I Thera just told us that she has close family ties with the army of drought that we're supposed to be meetings.

That's right. That's the nobility too. Like just it's like, oh. And Susan, in terms of monster hunters that chimera wants to bang, you're going to have to be more specific. There's a list. There's so many. And there's like truly there's probably at least 180 other threads that we have just had to. Just not touch. There's other stuff going on in the city, but I didn't want to overwhelm you. So. I mean, in the world. There's werewolves with heads on fire running into the. There's a whole thing. But let's just stick to Asterohold for today. This is just Asterole right now.

We're not talking. about the skull or anything. And guys. What's school? You're right. What's skull? There's a whole home front group on Patreon dealing with your decision making. And one of them's pretty ungrateful for all the cool stuff that we're sending their way. We call those opportunities. Yeah. That's lemonade, you know, ready to get made is what that is. It's definitely yellow. So like, they're dealing with it. And they, they, I think by by session four, they're like, all right, man. Fuck. Like, they're downstream. What can we do? You know? But to ground us in this scene, I think.

The sequence of events was, hey, I got nobility. Fun fact. We walked out out of the gloaming quarter. and it was Nythera said, oh, I think maybe I should go investigate Zera's house. And then Oro came running up going, oh shit, Kimira, you're about to get jumped. I think that's where we're picking up. Yes. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city is where Ruby just catches wind of of Minotaurs outside the gate. Outside the, yeah, the gates. Yes. So you don't even know about that one yet. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Yeah. Oh, that's right. We don't even know about that's.

That's Ruby's problem. So whenever Ruby scene picks up. And Ruby's just thinking like, man, I've got this one big problem to deal with. Gosh. It's going to take my whole focus. So glad the guards are on this so that I can get back to fixing up the gear heart. Oh, no. I'm sure anything else is okay. Kimer's gonna turn to ORA and be like, okay, aura. Now's your time to make good with this situation that has been created. What did you tell them for how to find me? Like, did you say where I was going to be? Did you tell them what I looked like? Be thorough. Well, I didn't tell them where you were going to be.

I didn't know where you were going to be. but also why would I tell them where you were going to be? It's kind of up to them. So it was kind of, once I said they were going to do that, they were pretty hell bent on it. So I just kind of told them, well, if you're worth your soul, you'll find him. Right? It's one of, you know, I did tell them exactly what you look like, though. Okay. Okay. Okay. I can fix this. This is fine. This is okay. I can work with this. Oh, boy. And I'm going to cast my once-per-long rest, disguise self. And Camera is going to look like a human, human, man, just a human man.

Still handsome, I want to say. Very handsome still. But very handsome still. But no, no tail, no horns. No. no red skin, just a human man. Okay. All right. Crisis is inverted for now. Well, that's all. Back on my other thought, maybe I should go back into the glowing quarter by myself, because it's much easier for one person to avoid the silent choir. I can get in, get out, investigate Zero's house. I think you should take Fetty with you. Yeah, Vetti. You've been practicing, you're sneaking. You're ever paying attention to a conversation, but you weren't ready to participate in it.

So when you hear your name, it still looks like you were completely zoned out. She's going to be very, like, like, Wait, seriously? You want me to... Like... Participate? Usually you hate that. To be fair, I don't. But it was Loggren's idea. She's actually like almost pushing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go. Before he changes... You're already in the chair. I'm like... I'm a change. Yeah. I'm sorry. Come back here. No, come back. No, yeah. He's just basically like everybody is, things are crazy here. Nobody's going off on the room is his only attitude. Yeah. Except for Ruby, apparently.

Although a lot has changed between now and since when we left Ruby on her own. So. Not as far as she knows. Yeah. So if they vanish to go back into the gloomy quarter and check out. What was it to check? Zara's house? Yeah. So Loggerin's kind of just like... Just looking at the remaining people. Because it's me and Kimera and three of the kids. I'm not really sure where to start. There's a lot happening. Well, we can check on Ruby. I'm sure Ruby's fine. Fill her in. Yeah, we should probably do that. Chat, how are you feeling, buddy? Okay, that's the second time. You're gonna get a kid.

It's like, keep tagging the kids in. It's like, it's like, but it's just going to hit the ear wrong. It's like, first of all, that sounds like, just genuine concern, but it feels like a setup. There's just, it's like. And to be fair, like, a log run like, like, I didn't like the way that sounded either. It's like when I called Michael Mike one time, it's like, no, you're not a mic. I was trying to know. It didn't work. Yeah. Even he was like, no. I'm not. I'm not. I'm fine. So, okay, hold on. So we have a group of thugs just kind of prowling the street looking for you.

And he's going to point it now, human looking, kind of right. Yeah, don't point it in when you say that. Right. They're looking for a teafling. I'm not looking to give us any trouble, but the kind of guys who would do that when they just beat up any teetling they see. Maybe. Well, they might. but that teafling is likely not going to have the power they're looking for. Probably going to tell them as much. I don't think so. Well, that's what they want to do with you. That's all I'm saying. I don't know. It just feels... I mean, if they're going around... If they're going to go around and just start murdering people, I mean, we've got paladins that are... hot to trot.

They are ready to beat the shit out of people. So it is ready to go. So if, you know, if they're out for blood, I think they're going to get shut down pretty quick. And then problem solved. Actually, that's a really good point. Logger's going to look around. Are there any paladins in this area? There's palatins in every area except the gloaming quarter. Yeah, but like in eye shot, can I see them? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Which? It's you both. It's always both brands. Nowhere where there's one brand and not the other. They're usually just on separate sides of the street.

So if one of them sets up shop somewhere, it's like, let's keep an eye on it. You know what I mean? They're doing it. Yeah. It's yeah. All right. Well, let's pick one. And Loggerne's going to just start to lead the group over to. I'm going to roll a D12 and see which one I go to. What are the parameters? Evens I go to Coke, odds I go to Pepsi. Oh, our first one of the night. That can't be bad, right? So I don't know who's odds. Odds are the violent ones. That seems like a good one. All right. How, okay. So you got a couple of them just standing there and they're eyeballing. the palinence across the street.

How are you approaching this? He does that thing where he sticks two fingers in his mouth to whistle as he's walking over to them, which I can't do and I would not do into my microphone. Thank you. I appreciate that. So you'll just kind of do that whistle and be like, hey, come here. I'm going to talk to you about something. Okay, dook. So right off the bat, these two. It's a man and a woman, both pretty close cropped hair. And they are instantly offended. You can just tell. And they're going to walk over. And the woman who is just a little taller than you.

Did you just whistle for us? Well, I needed your attention. So that seemed like the easiest way to do that. Like a dog. No. Like a soldier, can we focus? I need to tell you because somebody's going to get attacked in a minute if you don't, if you don't pay attention. She'll kind of soften. All right, you want to report a crime. Well, a threat of a crime. There's a gang who are hunting teaflings and attacking them or threatening to attack them. And we have a good authority that they're going to try to beat to death. And that's a quote. any teethlings that they find.

Because they think they're warlocks and they're going to try to take their power. Really fucked up. It's really, it's not, it's not okay. It's not good, yeah. The guy's going to kind of like, it's not even how warlocks work. I know. Right? Apparently these guys are very dumb and he'll kind of like signal to horror. I'd be like confirm how dumb they are. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They're real dumb. I can tell you what they look like if, you know, that's what you need. And like, she'll start like, she'll start like giving vivid descriptions of, you know. Yeah. That's Johnny two teeth.

This is, you know, just like probably known shit heels, honestly. I was like, you know. They're probably people that these guys have dealt with before. Right. Yeah. It's like, ugh. Okay. And yeah. Um, give me a persuasion check, please. Okay. Can I assist with that? Yeah, it feels like you are. Okay. Actually, or is trained too, so give yourself a D6. Oh, yeah. Okay. Look at us. Give myself a D6 plus two because of how my team work works. It does make the dream work, Especially when we get a third. Lord. Good Lord. Wow. They work for me now. I did need a follower. I own paladins.

Here we go. You want to roll? That's a crit. So like, do you want to see? I guess let's see. What is it, D6? If you just click that button, it'll automatically do it. Oh, okay. In the chat. There it is. Look at that. A five. Cleve. bribery. You're not afraid to grease a palm or two to get what you want or where you want to go. For the next hour, you advantage and checks made to find someone susceptible to a bribe, and your bribes cost half the amount of gold they would otherwise. Nice. Not a bad time to remind you that Roger will know that Ruby is able to, to determine as one of her feats, to know what bribe will work if someone can be bribed and what would work for them.

So this is probably... Yeah. If we had a good reason for it. I mean... Yeah. Okay. Well, shit. Okay. You're gonna catch them on the perfect day for this. They're irritable. They were looking for a skull to thump, honestly. And racist dickheads prowling the streets, threatening to just beat up random teethlings. Perfect. Let's go. You know what I mean? Let's do out some street justice to some dickheads, you know, that type of thing. So there, honestly, uh, like, she'll, she'll almost like gleefully. Thank you for reporting this. We've very much appreciated. Lager and cry are born at your service.

I give him, you know, I have those little little little, little, brunstones that I carve with my family Crest in and I'm going to give them one. My calling card. She's going to shake your hand. I kind of like the cut of your chip. Because first of all, you didn't go across the street. You came to us because you knew. You knew. We knew where the violence was sourced. We knew the violent one. That's their motto. Where the violence is sourced. That's their motto. What's the name? What's the name of the deity that they, that these guys follow? Ter. Tur. All right. And then he'll look to or and be like, can you tell them where you saw these guys, these, these people last?

Yeah, she'll give a, she'll give a really thorough breakdown. It's like, there's eight or nine of them. It's going to be real easy to find them. They're a mob. So they're not quiet. Yeah. And yeah, they're going to get pretty good. take off and and probably do some violence. So if it's clear, it seems like it's clear that these guys were instantly like ready to fight us. And then we were like, oh, no, but you could fight them more. And then they were all about that, right? I weren't ready to fight you. It was more just like, did you just fucking whistle for me?

Like it's more, it's like, I mean, turns out. That's exactly the right thing to do with these guys. Yeah. Okay. You gave them a more appealing option and rolled a 33. Yeah. Things had to happen. Like, it's like, so I am a paladin. I have trained my entire life for this. And you just whistled for me. Like, I'm a waiter. Like, you know what I mean? Like they're, you know, just kind of, yeah. Okay. That's all. So when they go. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, go ahead. You go first. I'm going to say before they go, can we just like, hey, we heard there was like a murder that went down. of one of the vampires, like, what's it?

Any scuttle butt you can tell just a regular old civilian about that? Persuasion check, please. Oh, boy. I'm going to assist by bribing them. Ruining any goodwill that we. Well, I mean, because we're just civilians, so I don't know. that they would necessarily be like, oh, yeah, we, you know, we've got this Intel. Well, okay, bribing with what? Money. Okay. It's a valid question. Not everyone's motivated by it. Like, okay, it's also vague. Like, how much money? How are you offering it? That type of thing. I'm going to, hang on, I'm looking at my skills. Mm-hmm.

Take your time. One of my skills is money. One of my skills is actually at this point. I think it is. One of Lachman skills is money. If it's okay with you, I want to roll a stealth check just to palm them like a couple of gold. It's not like I can hand them a whole bag of it. So I'm going to like. No, no, no. I think that's, you know what? I think I think it would be more like a charisma save. Like it's a coolness check. You know what I mean? Okay. It would be real high. This is on the heels of it being like, hey, we just, we just helped you out here. They're like, well, thank you for helping.

And then you palm a couple of goals. Thanks for your time. Yeah, by the way. You know. Exactly. Yeah. So do you want me to roll that or do you want me to include like to give Cameras question a expertise for that? Or? Let's start with chimera. Okay. Then when it's time to say goodbye, you'll just be on you. That'll just be on you. Because that's like a, yeah. Okay. So, uh, D6 with your persuasion check, please. Got it. Here we roll. Oh, that was almost another 20. 21 though, total is is great. Hmm. So the guy's gonna speak up again. Yeah, it was a dead vampire. He wandered outside his cage.

So here's the thing. His partner is going to kind of give a look like, that's a little fucked up. But like, not not verbally correct him, but almost kind of like nudge him with her shoulder. Just kind of like, just, oh, don't. Like that type of thing. Any idea who did it or why? It was kind of public. It seemed like it was almost giving a message, you know. People who have the sentiment that they don't want vampires here. He's going to get pretty. Yeah, it's probably some hero that and she's going to push him back at this point. Yeah. No, he's got a fit, he's got an axe to grind.

Like, yeah. Like in this world it's almost, it's almost. It's like, yeah, it's probably the Jews. Like, it's like, whoa, where the fuck did that come from? Like, what? So like, it's very, it's like, oh, and you're a peace officer. Well, this isn't, you know what I mean? They're a violent officer. He's the opposite, yeah. Yeah. He's an officer. She is going to like give him like a good shove. It's like to walk it off. Like just like telling him, Like, scolding him. So you could kind of tell like she's, like, she's the commanding officer and he's just got some opinions.

Camar is going to grimace to like, ooh, ooh. Gross. Actually gross. Really? Right in front of my chat? Honestly. Right in front of my chat? Right in front of my chat. Just going to like raise his hood up. Just like. I'm sorry about my partner. He has some thoughts about our... Troubling thoughts for someone... Yeah, troubling thoughts for someone who's supposed to be protecting everyone in the city. His mother was killed by a vampire, but that doesn't excuse the behavior. We'll look into your thug problem. You folks have a nice day. Was that all about the murder, though?

That's what I mean... You know what because he reacted so... Yeah, because he reacted so negatively. It is being investigated, but to be honest, not by our best and brightest. It looked like a random murder to us, but... But that's just secondhand information I'm getting. Why did you know them? No, it just, it seemed so odd. It seemed so blatant, you know. It stood out. It didn't seem like just a, just a stabbing, you know. I guess that's why I'm interested. Well, to be honest, it doesn't sit right with me. You too? She's kind of Yeah, she's kind of like Look man, don't get me started on this, you know, politics, whatever.

I'm, you know, but I don't I don't buy the fact that there were no paladins on that street, be it us or them. It just, we haven't had a murder in the city in quite a long time. unless you count the monster hunter. But we don't count those as murders. They're not people anymore. Though I'm not a fan of him either. Oh, yeah. All that bravado does nothing for me. And that just like the bravado is fine. It's the unsanctioned violence. He didn't earn the right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That too. Just quick. There's nothing wrong with finger nails into the fist. There's nothing wrong with violence and bravado.

That's fine. But he didn't train for that. He didn't earn it. Right. Right. I understand. You don't think, and I only bring this up because of what you said, and it just got my brain working. You don't think it was an inside job, right, by any of the palatins? I mean, because you're right? This city has been... It has been pretty safe in spite of, you know, the conflict that's going on. So do you think that it could have been done by... Someone inside your department? Oh. So what I was going to say is choose your next words very carefully. Because if you're saying that that other group of palatins...

Could have done that. Well, I wouldn't be. But if you're suggesting that one of them did it, now it, now it goes into cop defense mode, you know what I mean? Like, I can't believe that any one of my brothers or sisters would have done something like that despite their opinions. Well, you're probably right. Who is investigating it, though? Like, who is investigating it, though? Like, who was? Who was? Who was? Who? Who? Who is there? Give me another persuasion check. You got it. Because at this point, you've kind of ruffled her further a little bit. Jesus. How's that? 26.

All is forgiven. No, she, so. I think, I think, I'm just kind of like, he does what he always does when he pushes things is he just kind of like, he backs off with his body, you know? He's just kind of like, okay, I'll move on to the next thing. Do you know who is investigating, you know? Showing an awful lot of interest in this case specifically. Well, yeah, it's unusual. Wouldn't you say? It's caught the attention of the city. She's... You rolled a 26. She's going to kind of like... All right, look. I'm going to give you some information here because clearly you're not, you're not going to let this go.

So, all right, fine. If you had downtown, one of our junior paladins is working on that they haven't even been sworn yet. What's their name? And she's, okay, there's a part of her that's like, fuck, I only know his nickname. Oh, shit. But she wants to show like proper respect, but it's like, I haven't even bothered to learn his name until he takes the oath. It's like, uh... This is going to seem wildly unprofessional. But if you go downtown and ask for half dick, I'm sure... Really unfortunate. I can point you in the right direction. Name. I should go look for those thugs.

I'm so sorry. I have to ask how he got that. I am so... I have to ask how he got that. I am so... I just... you... You brought it up and now I just have to know. I have to know how he got that name. I just have to know. I'm so sorry. You have to promise me that this stays between us. And she gets real... This is... This... She's more serious now than the whistling thing. It's like, no, seriously. This is... Okay? My oath. My honor. And she's going to like, OK, we'll see how much that's worth. Fine. On his first day, students were asked to spar one another, and he didn't want to raise his hands to a woman.

So she proceeded to kick him in the peace. several, several times until he decided to fight back. By that point, the nickname was already there. That's understandable, I get that. Mm-hmm. Seems like a fitting name then. On the off chance, he does pass every test and get sworn in, that does need to follow him around the city. Well, if it ever get out, if it ever, it will never pass through these lips. So you have no worry about that. You folks have a good day. Thank you for your service. You still want to try and palm gold? Well, that was all without me braving them.

No, after they're done talking, I'm not going to give them gold. Okay. I'm going to go. I'm going to try to get her talking by giving her goal. Yeah. Yeah. And they're like trying to palm gold towards her gold. All right. I don't. Take this so you talk better. No, all right, fine. You got distracted by the half-tick thing. She walked away and he feels awful. Lock and turns to chat, he says, I'm going to make you ask for half-tick. He's kind of, it's like, come on, man. He's so over this shit for two weeks. He actually, like, the second you, it's like, the second you. get back into town.

It's like, come on. We've been nothing but nice to him. All right. So here's the thing is, Logren's actually joking because this is his type of humor. So he'll be like, all right, fine. I'm not going to make you doing. Relax. And he'll start like leading the group downtown because now we have. Now we've got to go find half dick. In fact, in fact, Logger, sorry, I'm just going to. We can. we can change transition scenes. But Lagrin is so unbothered by it that he will just go around to every pair of these paladins that we encounter. Looking for half-dick. And he'll just go down the road.

So we can transition on that. Heftic. You wouldn't happen to be half-dick, would you? All right. Punch. Uh, just. Each pair of pallet, he's got a new, like, bruise on his head. Oh, God. Okay. Jesus. Okay. Let's catch up with, um, let's catch up with Ruby. All righty. Wow. I mean, what is there to say? So basically, you know, the guards, the guards are starting to swarm towards the gate. She's, she's, whatever. She's catching wind that there's minotors outside the gate. She's probably hearing some noises. Everybody's kind of, the question is, are they flipping out?

Or are they just sort of, is this a level 10? Oh, my God? Or is this a level six? Let's get everybody here just in case there's a problem. From her point of view. Ah, it's, there's a lot of concern. Like, no one's brandishing weapons, no one's to, but it is like, just in case, it's like, okay, there seem to be 40, 50 Minotaur at the gate. If they decide that they want to start attacking, we, we, you know, we need to be ready. So, I mean, it's mostly get, get people over here in case, but you can hear, but you can hear, someone talking outside, right? They sent some people outside and stuff.

So there's just this tension and it's overly quiet where they're trying to like, they're trying to like listen, but it's kind of echoey and muffled, but no one's yelling, no one's, you know, but at, yeah. Hmm. I feel like Ruby would have sort of log run on her shoulder, like she's, got a part of her brain that she'll think what would Logren want me to do here or what would Logren say is the best thing to do. So she's probably calculating a couple of things. And I think she would say to herself, you know what? I'm going to I'm going to file this away for a minute.

I'm going to finish up what I'm working on. Keep an eye out on this. And then I'm going to head back into town and see if I can find my friends. I don't think. she's going to get involved. I don't think she would find it her place to get involved. And I don't think that she would think much of it. Maybe this happens every once in a while anyway. She doesn't know. Not to ignore it, but I do think she would keep an ear out, but probably go back to the Gearheart. And I think with a renewed purpose not to open up new ideas of what she can do with it, but sort of to make sure it's kind of ready to go, if need be.

That's kind of it. So I want to talk about the Gear Heart just for a second. Because someone commented, I off the top of my head, I don't remember who, but someone on the Discord commented that you're basically harnessing the power of a nuclear reactor and you're going 12 miles an hour. Yeah. To that, I want to say, power without control means very little. If you grab one end of a fire hose and I just turn it on and you're not ready for it. Like, you know, there's water everywhere, but not where you want it. Right. So as you refine this thing, it's going to perform better and better.

But right now, you have assloads of power and it's not being directed where, you know what I mean? So that'll get better over time. I didn't want it to roll off the assembly line. Perfect. No, no. And I mean, Ruby definitely is taking it as that exactly the way that you've said it. She realizes that there is immense arcane energy that can be tapped into. So she's like, how can I, how can I put some tubes and wires and whatever she can possibly figure out so that our feet are warmer? So that maybe we have a little lighting inside whenever it's dark outside or or like, she's just like kind of trying to do some of this, not just for fun, but also probably from an engineering point of view. like safety valve.

Like so that this thing doesn't blow or so that this thing doesn't. You know, so she's trying to, she's trying to keep it contained. And I think the longer she, the longer we are with the gear heart and that she's able to be with it in downtime, the more she'll start realizing how to harness it a little bit more, is my guess. Or that will be my try. Okay. Well, I'm going to float away. but I'm going to ask you for an engineering role soonish. Understood. Let's catch up with Nythera and Vetti. Yeah. So, okay. You know where his house is. Yeah. So, so. So just going right there?

Do you want to? There is an element of laying low. I know it's daytime, so the vampires probably aren't following us, or at least if they are, they're sticking to shadows. Maybe it's like the antithesis of her usual sneaking. It's like staying in the light. You get the sense that the people you're avoiding probably stick close to the church within the church, that type of thing. But anybody following you, that's vampire. it's going to be kind of a dead giveaway. They're all wearing big ass hoods. And you know what I mean? Like they got a, you know, so if someone's following you, real hard to blend in.

Yeah. I'll leave that with my passive. But yeah, going there, sticking to the less shadowy parts of town for once. That he's going to start talking. So what do you hoping to find? if he was attacked or grabbed while in his home maybe there's some sign of entry or a broken latch on a window or if they did this so publicly that they left him in the middle of town maybe the asshole left a calling card seen it before like they want to be found. Oh man, do you think like, do you think someone's going to do this again? Like, I don't know. There was some asshole when Sarah and I were together, publicly shaming him.

So maybe. This was a thing again. against a perceived monster. But the way that it was, the body was displayed in my line of business means that it's a statement. Someone wanted it to be known. And if it was publicly against vampires, then maybe they're going to go after more vampires. But that's all just speculation. She's going to get real quiet for a few seconds. I'm real sorry that happened. I didn't want to say anything, but, you know, the whole thing sucks. There's a half a beat where Nithira like pauses as she's walking, like she almost misses a step, but she keeps going without looking at Betty.

Thanks. He didn't deserve that. So what if we find out that? It is someone targeting vampires. Then I get to use my unique set of skills to stop them. She's... There's a part of it that kind of brightens up. And she almost kind of excitedly jumps on it and then just kind of like, that's not the time. Not, but it's almost more comforting to create this, you know, villainous mustache twirling. Like you have no idea what is going on. So it's just easier to conjure someone who deserves a good stabbing. You know what I mean? Like it's, yeah. And Betty doesn't need. you know this, but regardless of whoever did it, they're probably going to end up killed by nice era.

Like, even if they're not some villainous mustache wearing, like, you killed the guy I slept with, so you're going to get stabbed. That's fair. That's rules to live by everybody. I mean, if you find yourself in that unique position, get a knife. I'm going to need a lawyer on retainer, too, I think. A couple. Lots of different reasons. Susan, you want a job? I am not a lawyer. I do not represent myself as such. That's what you tell everybody. I get it. That's for them out there, not for me. That's fine. I do not after legal advice. Sure, no. I mean, not to just anybody.

It's got to be a friend. Um... We're paralegal again, so I can't go around saying shit. See whatever you want. Who's gonna listen? There's a million podcasts. Consequences mean nothing. There's no laws. Yeah. This is parody. This is parody. Dumb Starbucks. Dumb Starbucks. Anywho. You're gonna get to Zira's house. And it's, you know, it's locked up. There's, you know, obviously all the, all the shutters are drawn. And it is, it's a nice little place. Like you've, obviously, you've been here before. But like, the, it shows no signs of life, I guess, is the best way to put it.

I jiggle the handle, not expecting it to open, but. Yeah, definitely locked. And. Vettie's gonna... Is it cool to unlock it? I mean... You know. I mean... I mean, we have to get in one way. Yeah, yeah. No, I... Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. It's for a good cause. It's better us than who ever murdered him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It just feels weird. Picking, you know what I mean? Like, it just seems invasive or something? I don't know. Ignore me. We could break a window. Would that be better? I think that's worse. That's way worse. Just pick the lock. It's okay.

Sorry. Okay, I break out my thief's tools. Yeah, it takes you just a couple of seconds. So it is not hard. Okay. And this thing will poprate open and pitch black inside. But there are canned. and stuff. To her. It's like, yeah, stealing from a shop keep's fine, but it's like, this is like a dead guy you liked, and this just feels weird. But like, yeah. Let's not get information then? Yeah, it, yeah. So if you start, I don't know if you want to like candles, I don't know. of you, but like... I don't need them, does Vetti? I don't know if Teetlings get dark vision.

Let's see. They're a bit more discerning with it these days. I think they do. I think they do. Because I believe I have dark vision. Oh, yeah, she got dark vision. Okay. Obviously, it's black and white, but we also don't want to draw attention. Yeah, sure. Right. So I imagine you shut the door behind you. Yeah, and lock it. So no one can sneak up on us. Easily. And booby-trot. Yeah. And coat the door handle and poison with the needle and, yeah. Just normal. Just normal. Yeah. Yeah. The axe that'll swing down if someone opens the door. Yeah. What you normally do, right?

This place looks immaculate. And I think so okay. This is some insider knowledge you have. Zero was a pretty, like a pretty neat dude, right? Like he, you know, he kept things, but this is very clean. Like freshly dusted. Like, you're, you know what the place looked like a couple of weeks ago. And it looks like a cleaning service came through. And just to you, it's like, that's weird. Just either he got, you know, he did some spring cleaning or something before, you know, before it happened, or this place was cleaned after the fact. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Huh. I'm gonna say that to Vetti.

This place is suspiciously. clean. She's kind of looking around. Do you think someone broke into clean his house? I have one or two thoughts. First, the innocuous one is that maybe someone cleaned it after his body was found just to get no mentos out. Right. Or, or. I'm leaning towards. Hiding something? Yeah. Maybe he was murdered here. And then they cleaned up afterwards. Do you know if he kept like a journal or anything? Well, we didn't get that far in a relationship. It's okay. Fettys never had that experience. of like just hooking up with a dude. So she's like, I didn't know if you like maybe, she's really trying not to insinuate that this person wasn't important to you, but she has no context for like a one-night stand.

So it's like, I don't want to call you a slut or something. Like I'm just, it's like, I don't, you know, I. Hey, we all have that face. That's fine. It's probably a little mental thing. It's like, I'm going to file that away to deal with this right now. And then. Okay. Do you want to split up and just look around? Like, carefully? Yeah. Journal's a good place to start. Look under rugs. Typically, when cleaning up after a mess. of the nature I usually make. Rugs are forgotten under furniture, under beds, typical spots. Give me an investigation check. Yeah. You haven't stabbed anything in a while, so your mojo might be off.

Just get ready. I know. That's why I was breathing in the good energy. Here we go. Here we go. Everybody blow on my dice. Nope No Guys don't breathe on my dice I've inspiration I've inspiration That is a quick one I just love when a bit continues And I don't know It's just great Everybody suck in your breath Do not even look at my dice Yep I'll hurt your gaze Oh my God. Don't work in the future. Okay. That's a crit in the other way. What a weird night we're having. Okay, do you know? All right. Do you want to roll on that? I don't know. I have an eye for provenance and quality.

You automatically appraise the actual value in gold of an item I'm or an item that is being sold to you. And you know if a merchant is attempting to rip you off. So I'm going to steal from my ex-lover. It's like an estate sale, kind of. Oh, wait, okay, to spend this. Maybe Nythira is looking to see if she doesn't think it was, but maybe there was items stolen during. this attack. If there's anything that was of value now missing, maybe it was like he had something they were looking for. Sure. Sure. Um. Oh, boy. Yeah. Okay. Let's do that. Oh, shit. Yeah. Okay. Give me one moment.

I got something for you. I find a magic ring that plays someone's last moment. Yay! I like a steak sale, Jasper. Thank you. I was right there. Stake sale. Vampire. Vampire. Get it? I do. That's good stuff. Derogatory. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, you know that they have that business in the gloaming quarter. via steak sale. Because they already have the bit going with the Bonzo's after dark. I mean, there's got to be some sort of market for it. Evidently. If Bonzo doesn't have some kind of steak tips, then... Of course they do. Oh, and then like the tagline is only for the brave or something.

They get a lot of taglines. We get a lot of shirts. Great dear heart. Honestly, what are you doing here, Jasper? Like, what? Well, we're not on Ruby, just start making t-shirts. Right. That's right. Right. Start drawing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So there was, he wasn't a very flashy guy. But over the course of several, several, several decades, you get stuff, right? And for one reason or another, he had this, I wouldn't call it gaudy, but it was a very ornate-looking dagger. And you would ask him about it that night just because it looked Elvin. And I like daggers.

Right, exactly. It appeals to all your interests. And he had told you what. belong to Bratonna Moonshadow. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, and he did some favor for people near Calcos and he was gifted that, but he didn't get that far in the relationship to get, you know, old war stories. It wasn't about that that night. Um, so it is missing. Like you're going to notice it's gone. And if you want to put a gold value on it, to the collector, that thing could be near priceless. Hey folks, Jasper here. Sorry to interrupt everything. Listen, we want to connect with you.

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Give me history check. Of significance. Oh, no, we're out of. We're out of re-rolls. I'm worried. Yep. Don't look. Maybe because it's about a dagger, it's close enough to stabbing. I mean, history is not my, my strong suit. I need my handy-duty log in here. Well, investigation was, and you rolled a one. So, like, who knows? Like, you know. Hey. 19. Okay. So 20. 20 is good. All right. So. what's odd about this? Not odd, but like, this, sometimes weapons are gifted to people on the outside who done them a service or, you know, protected the forest in some way or whatever, especially back during the whole Carter war thing.

Because you lose a third of the evergreen and you start getting real precious about what's left. The thing is, that looked really old, which means this wasn't just some ceremonial dagger that was gifted. This must, if it actually was Ritana Moonshadows, she got that when she was much younger. So either they meant a lot to each other or he did something huge for them. And it was like, you know, I have to give you something that reflects. It's like getting the Medal of Honor, something like something like. like that. Okay. Jasper plays Call a duty. He knows.

Yeah. I don't even... I'm not gonna even... I'm not buying it right now. He's not even listening. Yeah, we're playing a Pop Hunt game together right now. Okay. Now, going back, in addition to my Nat 20 investigation check, do I find anything else that's like... Shows that a scuffle happen here? Like, drops of blood underneath. a rug or a big bloody body stain underneath a bed that was pushed into a corner. Who would be that fucking careless, Susan? Honestly. I don't know I think about that. Yeah, that blood stain was never taken care of at all. We just moved to bed over it.

No one found it. Well, it doesn't look like there's any signs of a scuffle. And it doesn't look. No, no. Like everything's just a little too perfect. It's been straightened up and everything, but you're not going to find any. It doesn't look like there was a fight. It doesn't look like there was any kind of violence or anything you will find. He has like a dresser. and you're going to see just a just a like a flap. But it looks like the coat he was wearing the night you hooked up with him. And you kind of get the sense that he wore that a lot. And it's kind of weird that it's put away.

So they were too meticulous of that they're cleaning. Okay. So after Vetti does her path of the search, we meet back up. Well, a very notable dagger he had was taken. So if anything, we could see if someone tried to fence it in the city, have a few contacts that I could reach out to, or just put feelers out to see if anybody's seen it, because it is very identifiable. Well, how notable are we talking? To my people, it's one of the greatest honors you could receive. So this is one of the few times Vettys in her element. Well, it's going to be kind of hard to fend something like that.

It's too hot. Right. There were jewels on it, so maybe I could put out feelers for the jewels. But at the very least, I could have my contacts in town to keep an eye out for anybody flashing it. Does it look like anything else was taken? No, not that I could tell, but a coat that he wore the night we were together in a coat he wore all the time. Someone put that back. So they were too. too meticulous in their cleaning. So this was definitely cleaned after. This was not done by him. Where's the coat? And then I show her. She's actually going to take the coat out, like just like gingerly.

And as she's doing that, she's kind of, you know, saying, unless there are complete. plate moron, they're not going to break the item down and just sell jewels and stuff, or unless they're really desperate. So either we're looking for a complete idiot who just kind of stumbled upon something shiny, or someone who knew exactly what they were taking and they're waiting for the right moment upon it. Either way, it'd probably be a good idea to get in touch with any fences in town. See if the idiot tried to take it apart. Or if they're waiting for it to be less hot and they're getting in contact with the fence to sell it later.

As she's taking out the coat and kind of unfolding it, a note is going to fall out of it. Oh, hey. So if you look at the note, it's not like a letter. It looks like it was something hastily like scrawled down for it. But you could tell it's four zero. And it says your suspicions were absolutely correct. Those people did not have likeanthropy before they were killed. Oh. See, some people. just let their work speak for themselves, but some people have to be a complete shoulder, but nice here is like mumbling to herself. Fennie's absolutely lost. What? Have you heard of Thane Silver Fox?

Oh my God, who hasn't? He's huge in the city. He's everywhere. The guy's like a top-tier monster slayer. I'm not so sure about that. Show her the note. So you think you think he's just like infecting people with like Can't there be? Or like he's wrong and just killing people and then covering it up after the fact. I don't know. I just had an all feeling about him. But maybe Zera has notes about his suspicion somewhere in here and we could get more information on that. She is going to redouble efforts. to like look everywhere. And she's looking at, like, I think from her point of view, it's like, look, I'm going to look under the bed.

Don't laugh. Like, it's just like something could be there. Okay? Yeah, I don't know. And we would feel done. And we would feel done. Like to see if any are hollow. Um, you know what? I think we need to check. Um, hmm. Give me an engineering. Where's Ruby when you need her? She's got her own shit to deal with this. Oh, hey, 17. 17. I picked up a thing or two for my friends. You're actually going to find a floorboard that just kind of feel like it's got a little wiggle in it. And you're going to find you're going to find a floorboard that just kind of feel like it's got a little wiggle in it.

And you're going to this little switch next to an end table and it's just going to like pop it up. And you're gonna, you're gonna pull it back. And there is all kinds of, let's call it potential evidence. Zero was following Silver Fox for a while. And he's not exactly. sure that this guy is a good monster hunter or even a monster hunter. He might just be a murderer. And as like he kept a little log of like, you know, the dates, right, following him around, following him around. And there's a real weird entry. It's dated about three weeks ago. So this is just before you met him.

But he had been following him for three nights in a row. And on the third night, two people get slain, and they were both suspected of being werewolves. The weird thing is, one of those people shows up later, not dead, outside the city, and they start joining little hiking expeditions to find, you know, food. So either he helped. helped him fake his death to get him outside or some other weird shit. But he's like he has like several different working theories like why? You know, what you know, but basically he's not trustworthy. And and he's almost obsessive about it.

Like he's never seen him actually fight a monster. Like he's never seen a monster in the city. He just proves it after the fact. Mm-hmm. Night the year is going to look at these notes and start going like rifling through them. Oh, man. I really, I really could have liked this man. Because Night Thera also had a feeling about this guy. I don't know. I don't like them. I don't like. Okay. Nothing's been proven in a court yet. Um, but. At this point, it's got to be said. that if Silver Fox is untrustworthy. And if he found out he was being followed, boy, isn't that a good motive for murder?

I think there's going to be a court involved in this, just for the record. Probably not. I don't think we're going to get a courtroom drama out of this. Not with Nythera involved. Let's check back in with your team B. Just the bulk of the group. Let's check back with the bulk of the group. Let's get the incredible bulk. Let's get back to them. As you guys are walking around, you're going to feel those fingers kind of like curl up around your shoulders, You're just gonna like feel and he hasn't said anything in a while. It hasn't really said anything since the whole Wair Wolf incident, right?

Yeah. Baby boy, I need a favor. Oh. Okay. Okay. What is it that you need? Well, I think I have a solution to your lichenthropic issue, and I can keep it at bay. But I'm going to need some more juice. Oh, is that still going on? Did you think it just went away? I kind of thought you had. Had it handled. You seem to... I do have it handled. But it's dividing my attention. I'll make you a deal. You get me some free soles. Let's say eight or nine. And I'll make sure... that little lichenthropy problem will never bother you. Solved for eternity. As a matter of fact, I can make sure that no where creature could ever turn you again.

Full immunity. I love that, and you know I love that. Um, yeah, I'll... I'll see what I can do. Shouldn't be a problem for me, but... I do have to set a boundary. No time limits this time. I can get it done. That's not an issue. But I need to be able to work. Work for you. So that... We can enjoy all of this together. Fine. Excellent. Let it never be said that I'm not understanding and compassionate. I have never not said that. Eight or nine. Eight or nine. Let's call it ten. Oh, boy. Could you do me a favor? Could you roll a travel die, please? Travel die? Oh, okay. Yeah.

There's city travel dyes, baby. Let's do this. Five. Mm. Well, you made that noise. See, you told us that the number doesn't really matter. But then you made... Well, the number matters. It's not a, it's not a, it's not a value. It's not like, oh, right, but the number matters and that number matters. So five. Let's, so. So, sorry. I don't know. I have a thinking tongue. Um. I'm on you. Not to say, don't do that again. Don't do that. All right. Constructive criticism, noted. No more thinking tongue. Okay. You can do all other kinds of tongue, though. That's allowed. Sure, sure, sure.

No, sure, sure, sure. Go, go, go, go, go. A little, a little bit after that. Let's say 20 minutes after that. This mob is going to come around the corner. And they're very, they're very like, like, Like, head on a swivel looking around. And you're gonna feel your disguise just slip away. Okay. Do I feel that the time's up on it, or do I feel that this is Col Goths doing? Well, who's to say? It is a regular. The time is not up on it. It's more... You know, when you get old, do these things happen. You don't transform for as long as you used to. That type of thing.

You're under a lot of stress. I took medication for this. You took medication. It wasn't necessarily for this, but you did take medication. So you're going to feel this slip, and you're definitely, it's like, you motherfucker. Like you just, like you know. And they are, they're going to, they're going to shout. Shit. Timeira. I'm gonna like look behind me. Yeah, logger and will follow suit. I've never heard that name before. Who could that be? Who is that? Who is that? Is that behind? No? Okay. Keep walking. Can I get a deception check, please? Yeah. Well. That's still gonna be pretty good.

What do you have an eight? 18. You have a D8, expertise day? Mm-hmm. God damn, you're a good liar. Okay, that's good. Um, okay. I need to roll for two things. Just two things real quick. So, uh, Or is trained in deception. That's fine. Chat. Oh, no. It's not trained in deception. Okay, that's not too bad. It's a minus too bad. It's not a good. He's not a liar. He's not a good liar. That's not a bad quality. Mine is too to charisma is a lot more than being honest. Yeah. He's also chat. Yeah, being a bad liar. Bad liar does not mean you're honest. It just means you're a bad liar.

And just Baz, just looking. Okay, yeah. Bass did better and he has a zero. Like he's, yeah. Out of character, I forgot Baz was there, so I think, logging. So these, so they're, you're the only teethling. You look distinct. You do. And they're gonna like, the guy who shouted is going to start like, kind of eyeballing you, like, getting close. They're all walking toward you. There are nine just to end. And Orr is going to start like trying to fade away. just like stepping back. Because her being here doesn't help the situation. Being as how she was the saleswoman of this.

That's not great. So she's going to try to hide. Oh, her stealth isn't amazing. It's not terrible though. She's trained in it. Okay. So 14. She's going to like hide behind you. But it's not a great hiding place. So they're going to march up. Logger and gets in front of camera. Ah, boy. Okay. So these guys look exactly like what you think. Guys walking around the city to kick the shit out of somebody would look like. We're looking for a teafling. And he's going to kind of look down. Like he's going to try and make himself. He's just a human, but he's going to try and make himself look bigger. to, you know.

Oh. Just any teafling or? Well, we're looking for a teafling that supposedly looks exactly like you. Well, racist, and I do get that all the time. But no. I did see some other teaflings that way, though. Maybe you're looking for them. What's your name? Gilgamesh. Can I get a deception check, please? I mean, fat lot of good, it matters. Like, your goal, like, it's, yeah. I have to roll really poorly. Jesus Christ, you rolled a four and got a 15. And they're gonna, they're, they're, at this point, they're kind of spread around you a little bit, because they, you know what I mean?

And, and dude's going to turn around. So his name's Gilgames. Yeah. Yeah. I have to have them roll one thing, one thing. One thing. And if this is bad, This is a bad role. And we can pretty much put this whole awkward mess behind us. If it's a good role, we have a problem. Shit. Okay. 14's not bad. They're going to notice aura. Because there's only so much of... Can I marry? There's not a big, big man. So like, there's only so much of Kymir to hide behind. And she's a flashy dresser too. So they're... Hey, girl! Hey! This is him, right? Like, and her, she's trying so hard.

Yeah, so Lagerin steps. It was when they start harassing or Lagerin's going to step in, um, he needs to be like, all right, I'm gonna stop this right now. Listen, you guys are gonna wanna go away. There's a couple ways that that can happen. One is I give each one of you a gold piece to fuck off all the way off. Cross down. That's your best bet. Second choice is you pick your toughest guy and you let him. He can hit me as hard as he wants and I'm going to hit him back. And then you can carry his ass all the way across down to where you should have fucked before.

Option three is even worse. if you want me to keep going. So here's the thing. A lot of gold was taken from them. 15,000 gold to be specific. I don't think a gold piece is going to do it. And they are quite upset. It's like, look, pint size. That guy has a demon in him, and we're going to get some of those powers. So you can either move aside with your round little armor, or you can get your dick kicked in just like him. How close in front of me physically is this guy? Very. I'm going to plant my tower shield on his feet. Oh, yeah. Well, I think that I think a dexterity save then, right?

Like, I think that's fair. Yeah. Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound. of bitch. It was good line. It was good. Oh, Jesus. So 20. So he is going to move, but it, like, you almost crushed my foot with that. He's not understanding the- job running away. You sure did. He's going to take a swing at you. Okay. Nogger's not even going to move. Dick. What a, what a, what a, what a, oh, what a move. What a Chad. Hang on, let me turn on my powered shield. Oh, it's already muck just planted. My EC is already 25. I think it's just always planted, I think. Is he spiritually?

Yeah, it's always planning. Uh, 14. Doesn't even flinch. The problem is you're so armor. Like, just, Like, he has these brass knuckles and he's going to try and punch. And he's just going to catch helmet. Like, it's just... I'm going to... He's brass knuckles. Is that what he hit me with? Yeah, he sure did. Would you let me spend two points to take weapon? Only if you take it in the most brutal fashion possible. Okay. Yeah. I mean, so he's going to... Punch my armor. That's going to hurt. Yeah. So first of all, way to go. And Logrin, since he didn't draw his weapon, we'll just reach over and grab his wrist, twist it, and like wipe his knuckles off on the back of his shield.

Fuck. Ow. How? How? Yeah. I know that there's some kind of like a... I forget. Some save. Strengths? Yeah, hang on. Let me do dexterity saving throw. Oh. Oh. On a failure, they drop it and I grab it. So. Oh. Well, that's a six. So you're going to... So he's going to swing. And the second he has to swing. hits that armor. It's just going to reverberate through his knuckles and like instantaneously just opening it up. You're going to grab his wrist and then just scrape it against the big bulky shield. And they're going to spend two extra points to hit him with his own weapon.

And since he has little skinny human fingers, he's not going to actually be able to fit the brass knuckles onto his hand. So he's just going to take them and just knock him in the head with the side of the So the most embarrassing thing possible. Yeah, exactly. Okay. All right. All right. You're not to make an attack then. You sure do. I'm just going to use my weapon to roll it and then whatever the damage is. Yeah, I think it's an improvised weapon at that point, but whatever. Just do it. Yeah. You spent four points. Go ahead. That's 12. So. So that's not going to hurt.

It will hurt his pride. I imagine you just like pop them in the head with it and then just like drop them. Just the most disrespectful shirt, right? Pick him up. Yeah. As soon as like the violence starts happening, Kamira's going to hold up his hands and be like, okay, you found me. Congratulations. That was part one of the test and you passed. Good on you. You're a smart group, I can tell. You figured it out. That's good. So come on in, come on in. Let me see you welcome. Get in close. I'm not gonna hurt you yet. I just I want to understand. So you came to the guy that you think has a demon inside him.

To get power, right? And to kill him. Am I following this? There's like, there's like, there's like, there's like, kind of nods in agreement. It's like, well, if we can kill you, that's not a very good demon. We all agree. Right? Right. Okay, yeah. Yeah. I got you. I understand. By the transitive property, you kill me, power's not worth it, right? Again, just mob like... Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure. That's a good. That's good. That's good. You know what? That's good. I understand it. Quality thinking. Unfortunately, you're missing a few things. But that's okay. You didn't know.

I'll fill you in. Come on, getting close. Getting close. Before you get started, you're going to feel cold goth like right there. Oh, what's he say? I can help you kill each and every one of these men right now. and you can take each delicious soul. It would be self-defense. Everyone saw them attack you. And I promise you, I'm going to give you a taste of power that you've never felt before. It'll feel exhilarating. Hold that. Hold that thought. thought. Let me try it my way first. And then... All this is internal, too. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking is like, yeah.

Let me try it my way first. And if that doesn't go well, we can try yours. Which sounds like a lot of fun. I promise you it is. So, Camar is going to address the group. Okay, here's the things that you might be missing here. You come and you kill me. First of all, I'm hard to kill. In fact, I've been killed already. I've already been dead yesterday. You can ask the guards at the gate if you don't believe me. Weirwolf. Eviscerated me. Tor me. Right apart. That was before I set him on fire. And he went scampering into the wilderness. I don't know what became of him.

Probably nothing good. But I'm still here. So there's that. And here's the thing. If you kill me, then you get nothing, right? I'm dead, I can't hand out any power, right? Are you following me? Does that work out? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Right, right. And it's, you know, you throw that away, you know, it's like, hey, it wasn't strong enough, right? That's kind of your reasoning. Well, the thing about that is, the power that I have, it enhanced. what's already good about you. Right? Like, violence fighting. That's not my wheelhouse. You know, that's not what I'm good at.

Now, it enhances everything about you, so I'm okay at that. But it's not my bag. But I can see looking around here, Johnny, two teeth, shit heel, baldy. All of you, you look pretty strong. Violence kind of seems like your thing. One of the guys is like, how do you know my name? Like, just like, my reputation precedes me. In your ear the entire time. He's just kind of like, he's going to wait. Wouldn't it be nice to just clean the streets of Esther Holt? The guards would owe you. And you get all the power. And you won't have anyone to double cross you later.

They're morons. Look at them. That man has two teeth. Could I get? Could I? Could I? Good old Johnny Toot. Send your fan art of Johnny Two Teeth. Can I get a wisdom saving through, please? Yes. Okay. 24, that's good. Yeah. Woo. Ah. No, you're on a roll. But you're gonna feel just the lightest perspiration, just kind of... You know what I mean? It's like when you get a stomachache, but you're on stage doing something. It's like, hmm. Yeah. Oh, okay. Your attention is over divided. That's all. Okay. Um... I... Internally, Camera is like, I think you're gonna like this. Hang on.

Work with me. To the group. Camera is like, okay. So, and if you're coming at me to the death, I'm gonna fight back. And you might kill me. That might happen. I'm not. immortal. But I will kill some of you. I'm going to. If you're going to fight me to the death, I'm going to fight you right back. So biceps over there, you're dead. Limp, you're dead. Glasses, gone, sorry. You don't get anything. You know, even if you do kill me, no power is for you. You don't even get to see tomorrow. You're dead, dead. And if by chance I kill all of you, I'm sorry, We kill all of you.

All of you are dead. And then you get nothing. Right? There's going to be one guy. It's like, wait, they're fighting too. That's not fair. Like, just kind of fuck. Hashted thug logic. It's, it's, you know, hey, that's not fair. He can't have help. See, so that's a, you kill me. I can't give you any power. You get nothing. You try and kill me. I kill me. You get nothing. That's a lose-lose situation. Neither of us get what we want. But like I said, this power, it's about enhancing what's good in you. So if you want to test your metal, if you really want to be the strongest among you?

How about this? I've got a third option that I think's win-win. Why don't you let me use my power? to find the strongest among you. I sign them up. Give them a little taste of what could be all of yours. That person? The most violent, the strongest, that power enhances them. All of you get to fight them. And that way, you will really tell. Who's the strongest? How against that power? You'll be able to test your medal and whoever is left alive. I'm happy to give. I want to give. I want to give this to you. What do you think of that? I'm going to need a mega persuasion check here.

No. Everything points to. Lagerin is turned around and just like, what the... I was going to know that part. Yeah. Okay. Here we go, Persuasion. Oh, no. I have an inspiration. You got inspiration. It's got to be better than a three. It's got to be better than a three. Oh, it's way better than a three. Oh, it's way better than a three. Yeah. Yeah. So, we kill each other. And then the last person standing, which is me. And there's already going to be some murmurs, like in the, you know, they get all the power. All right, but I can give it to you right now. Just the one of you, so you can test it against each. other.

Or you can kill each other. How about that? Well, last, the last man standing, that gold is worth every piece for what I can offer you. They're they're trying to eye aura because or is definitely holding that money. And see, they're like, well, yeah, yeah, Look at me. There's definitely a few people. It's like, I could take her, the 15-year-old girl, definitely. I could be, you know, so there's, you know, a guy like Johnny Two Teeth, definitely. He's like, oh, this sounds like a lot. Give us a second. And they're going to break away to like convene. Or is kind of sidle up next to you.

Do you think they're going to be stupid enough to go for this? I think they're stupid enough to have given you a ton of gold, sight unseen. I think they're stupid enough to be wandering around looking for a single teafling in a city. Yes, I think they're stupid enough to go for this. Okay, uh, what's the end game? Like, when there's one left, what do we do? Well, I'll sign him up. I mean, that was what we were here to do in the first place. Her eyes are going to get real wide. And like, she's going like, oh my God, oh, oh, come here. You let me, right? Of course.

What if they have to sign a waiver to get into the tournament? So even when they die, you get that their juice. They're their soul. You didn't have to do anything. Explain. I like this. You got to sign something, right, for the official part, right? Well, why doesn't Coldgoth just make a document? They're not going to read it. All of them sign it. So whoever dies in the tournament, you gobble up that. Oh, I love that. that. I think that's great. That way we ensure getting all of them. Come here. Bring it. Bring it in. Come here. She is so proud. She is so proud. Like, she's becoming the worst person in the world with you.

But she's really good at it. Like, I think Lagerin's kind of like, mm. Well, that's concerned. Yeah. I'll follow that one away for later. Yeah, he just kind of like looks at Chet and bad and he's like, oh. Chet's not happy about it either. Just because he doesn't, he doesn't trust the whole cold golf thing. And ORA went from, I don't trust it. to let me do everything in my power to assist. Like, let me help you reap souls. Yeah. Yes, it has become, yes. They're gonna, they're gonna break and come back. All right. We'll do it. But you don't leave our site and we're gonna go to a place and do this right now.

Yeah, that's fair. I mean, let's set some ground rules. I think that's a good idea. In fact, I have just the thing so that we can all be on the same page. And as soon as he says that, he's going to flash up a burst of fire and a piece of paper will show up. Internally, after ORA pitches it, it's like, you're just going to hear, oh. Like, that's heartless for me. Like, that's good. Like, damn, why can't I have her again? Like, that kind of thing. Like, it's just like, fuck, okay. Could have made a great team, fine. And just, boom, contract. Um, what's that say?

It's a lot. Well, it is. You're right. But it's just a waiver, boilerplate, sort of make sure that I'm here in front of, you know, the oral contract that we sort of came up with. This is just a ring. Kind of puts a hand on it. Can we do this somewhere else? There's a good point being made in chat, but demonic contract flaring up in the middle of the, you're not on a very busy street, but like you're gonna have to hold us to three. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get a bar we can go to. I know I'm not on the scene, but in the town with two feuding paladin. There'll be a better place to do this.

Yeah, we'll find somewhere a little more discreet. Yeah, the, the, like, every one of them know a dive bar where you can fist fight to death, like all of them. So it, you know, like, it's, yeah, I'd probably, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, they're, now, they're, like, encircling you like an entourage, but making sure you don't leave an escorting. And Orris very much trying to like stay in the middle. And she has her bag off now and it's like holding it to her chest like the entire time. I just kind of keep her close just to make sure she feels safe. Because this is like, I think Kymira is like tense, but he's like ready to go.

And but he knows that this is not like a great place for a young person to be. So he's just kind of like making sure she's okay. Yeah, Chats got his hand like on the hilt of his sword the entire time. But it's a big ass dumb sword. So that's the problem is by the time he draws that, you know, whatever. Guys, I think it's a good time for us to stop for the night. And I don't know if we made anything better. I know. That's not for me. That's for the history books to decide. What? A little devil. I love her. What's the opposite of the big brothers, big sisters, organization?

Like, I like. I love that she's good at it. Like, that's the thing. Like, all the rules work with it, too. That it's like, oh, yeah, well, okay. If they're going to die anyway, then, you know, Why not damn them forever? Yeah. So it's funny too because I didn't I didn't know how that worked. So I was just kind of like going and talking and it was good to be like actually make them sign the thing first before they're getting. You're getting the impression she's been doing research without you to figure out how this works. So like, you know, that is something Kimera would never do.

Yeah. So what's funny is I have this whole list from the beginning before the episode where we were talking about all the threads. I was only able to cross one off. And that was earlier on whenever the gang fight for chimera seemed to have been resolved. So it's actually not a there's this scratch is actually wrong. So there's so much. So. I fucking called it with Silver Fox. We don't know that yet. It's an accusation. Extensive research. Okay. Well, it doesn't look good. I will. I, you know. You gotta question the man. That's like apollic. To kill people and then infect their blood with lecanthropy after the fact.

Right. And they, I have been saying, like out of character. There have been way too many wear creatures around. I did not know there was such an epidemic. Like, maybe he's really good at early detection. Yeah. Yeah. Of people just living their lives. I'm just saying all the science isn't. Is he would a total old jasper. I mean, not jasper. He would a total guilt. Freudian slip there. On your mind. Don't help me worried. It's fine. Don't turn around. Unrelated. Just think of prop hunt. If Susan puts her arm off to the side and then... That's perfect on my screen. comes out and marks him.

I try it, anyway. I love that he has a reputation, though, that he's like, yeah, that's the cool monster hunter who's been around to.