Episode 9: Two Days from Retirement

This week in Witherwild, our opening chatter drifts from Stephen King’s novels to Richard’s grad school escapades—turns out, both involve terror, caffeine, and things that haunt you for years. Then we find ourselves in the quiet Katari village of Allura, where Leroy decides to do something radical: relax.

Armed with a fishing pole and enough emotional baggage to sink a boat, Leroy heads to the lake to pray to the god of fermentation—because sometimes divine wisdom smells faintly of ale. Between gutting fish and grilling them over a crackling fire, he wrestles with the guilt and grief of leaving Lyra behind.

There’s no battle map this week, just rippling water, whispered prayers, and one man trying to make peace with the ghosts of his choices. As we explore his fractured memories of his past.

So the episode’s moral: healing doesn’t always mean fighting monsters—sometimes it means letting the line go slack, trusting the current, and forgiving yourself for drifting away.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Good day, the fair adventurers. God, that's terrible. Welcome to Richard and Carl PlayDaggerheart. I am Richard, somehow in charge of this.

SPEAKER_06 0:10

And I am Carl, somehow subservient to this uh maniacal master.

SPEAKER_04 0:15

Uh, so I believe. But really, it's like it's like when you like see in a movie trope where you grab someone and they just go limp and then like trying to drag them along is actually far more effort. Like. I'm trying to think of a good example of the trope of kidnapping someone that's just simply more effort than they're worth and doesn't It's like in Dragon Ball Z Abridge when they're like, you took Gohan's kid? Why? Goku's kid? How? How did you take Goku's kid? Why? Why did you take Goku's kid? So that's kind of our dynamic. You have Carl to go along. Why did you capture Carl? How did you capture Carl? So that's the way I see it. So, what is new in the Carl verse? Note, we are a fun role-playing podcast, and if you want to use us as academic sources, know that it is a choice you are making consciously.

SPEAKER_06 1:13

Uh well, I mean, uh, this week has been uh relatively boring. Um That would be amazing if you just ended there, like, your recap, like the subversion would have been pretty good. So uh Stephen King uh is my fiance, one of my fiance's favorite authors.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

Um so uh uh unrelated pause. So we have classmates who do a reading of their shoot choice at the start of each class as one of our class things. So I very recently listened to someone read the first five minutes of The Shining. Not related. The Shining. But also related. Probably more related than normally when I say not related.

SPEAKER_06 1:57

Uh we we do have a copy of The Shining. Uh we haven't read it yet. Uh just as this is kind of um ancillary to what we're what I'm actually gonna talk about, but uh.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Do you have any idea how profoundly unwise it is to tell a GM uh preload the GM to have a bunch of imagery and thoughts about the shining before he runs you a session? Like, you're like, hey, I have the I watch this movie. It's like, ever think about how horrifying Stephen King is, you say while I'm making my session notes.

SPEAKER_06 2:32

Well people say that the Shining is like one of the best horror movies ever made, and it definitely, like, it's very like creepy and feel the need to put an agenda before you go into where I think you're going.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

So best is an interesting thing. I know when I complain at the game awards a lot, that there's different categories of how you try and judge artwork. And for The Shining, a lot of its best comes from its choice of cinematography. Its acting choices, its score, its set design. So I just want to put that out there that, like, you can be the best horror movie of all time, while being bad at being a horror movie, if every other aspect is beautiful, please polished and great, which is why I get angry when people are like, why is Bellatro not well Bellatro not game of the year? I'm like, because it doesn't get points for any category other than the gameplay loop. I'm not saying Bellatro's bad, I'm saying it doesn't have these checkboxes for me to fill in to give it a rubric. Like if someone I give an assignment for someone to write me an essay on, let's say Stephen King, and I'm like, okay, you need to write an MLA style for five pages and pull in four quotes from The Shining, and they write this beautiful piece about repressed alcoholism. And they don't put in the five quotes, they don't get the points. Hypothetically. Hypothetically, this would never happen to a real student's paper.

SPEAKER_06 4:06

Anyways, I've I've I've watched the movie. Uh, and I will say, uh as you pointed out, uh, it has a very creepy score, a good cinema cinematography, uh uh very almost too authentic acting as the stories go.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

Yeah, it turns out if you want someone to act traumatize, the seekers to actually traumatize them. Disclaimer, I do not support doing this. Method acting is bullshit.

SPEAKER_06 4:33

But, um having not read the book, the movie feels like there is a lot of pointless plot lines, like the the writing of the movie makes me wonder if the book is actually good. Or how much was left out of the book.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

Reasonable concern.

SPEAKER_06 4:56

Like it's I I just really just didn't like the writing of the movie, and the the movie is old, and so I I found the movie to be actually kind of boring.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

I've last time I went through the shining, like I said, my issue is like it has lots of pretty framage, but like you've heard me rant about narrative symmetry, starting with the ordinary world, inverted world, symmetrical world. Imagine my deep hatred of how the titular shining had nothing to do with the movie. Like so, if you have a kid with psychic powers, but the dad sees the ghosts, and the psychic powers don't tie into the ending, then it went right anyway.

SPEAKER_06 5:46

So I really, really wonder about the book because the the writing of the movie, despite all the other wonderful aspects of it, just isn't up to snuff. But that's not actually what I actually want to talk about is Davis King's book, It. Which is about Pennywise the Clown that like feeds it's an alien monster that feeds on people's.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

The book was about sewer orgies.

SPEAKER_06 6:09

Well, see, that's another book that I haven't read. And and uh the movie, thankfully, leaves out the the sewer orgy part. So hygiene. Like, I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but like hygiene folks. But the more recent adaptations, uh can't remember what year they were released, but they were released in like 20. Must have been released, at least released in 2016. Uh, anyways. Uh the director of those movies, which were very well received because they're much higher quality than the one from like the 80s with Tim Curry. Um and then also they were divided into two movies and slightly longer, and so they could could include more content, but you know, still exclude the the um inappropriate content from the book. Fair. Um they were very well received, and the director of those movies, or maybe the producer, but someone r involved with those movies has decided to make a uh prequel series that shows the birth of.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

No. Unsubscribe. Boo.

SPEAKER_06 7:22

Well, I mean, uh I know what your feelings are about prequel series because like Name me two good prequels.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

Not good for being prequels, good prequels. Two, and I'll let this go.

SPEAKER_06 7:38

I I am bad at being put on the spot. Uh I'll have to get back to you on that. And unfortunately, maybe I'll get back to you on our next episode or something. Oh, that's so funny to answer the question on a different podcast.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

Like, I hope we actually remember to do that, because that's actually a really good bit. Like, not as a plug, we just do that.

SPEAKER_06 8:02

Anyways, uh the show Welcome to Dairy, it only has two episodes. Uh the next one comes out on Sunday. Uh, but we we have been enjoying it. Um it uh you know how in Batman Assault and Arkham uh they uh give a full flashback for every single member of the Suicide Squad. Uh so when one of them has their head blown off uh by Amanda Waller, then it's actually a complete surprise because you didn't know which character was actually important.

SPEAKER_04 8:37

That would only work if they weren't so trigger happy, because like original live-action Suicide Squad just simply wasted the bit. Where you know what movie actually did a good job of that bit? Was actually Deadpool 2, where he built his strike for axe, interviewed them all, and then had them all die while landing. And you're like, like, yeah, we got these high-profile actors, and then we killed them in a blaze of glory after setting it up. Where like the suicide thing is obviously someone's head's gonna be blown up to prove the point, but it would be better if they were patient with it.

SPEAKER_06 9:12

Right, right. Uh, but the the point I'm trying to make is that the first episode of this Welcome to Dairy show uh spends a lot of time building up characters. Uh, and I thought that they were gonna be main characters, and no, no, they they got horribly murdered by the end of the episode. Uh, which which then sets up future episodes, and it was like, man, like so few movies and shows just have the the guts to go for that kind of setup and payoff where you you introduce a character that it seems like they're going to actually be like they are important to the story because their death matters, but their actual role in the story is basically to die despite all the setup. Uh and I mean sometimes it doesn't work, like in Stephen King's The Tommy Knockers. I really hated the chapter about the guy that is flying the plane and gets too close to the spaceship and his brain explodes. Uh but uh but when it's done well, and well I I felt like Welcome to Derry did do this quite well. Spoiler alert, uh characters that you think they're gonna be main characters are just unceremoniously slaughtered.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Yeah, it's kind of wild. It's like How can I put this? Stephen King has put out a lot of media, and through the method of putting out a lot of media, like myself, eventually you'll make something good. That's just like a lot of averages. But like you read something like that, and then you read something like the short story that a rival was based on, and you're like, oh wow, there's just Stephen King is the Taco Bell of Horror. Go on? No, I think I nailed it.

SPEAKER_06 11:07

So like I said, my my weekend has been relatively boring. Uh, and watching Walking to Dairy was uh probably the the most exciting thing that happened to me this week. So what's new with you there, Richard?

SPEAKER_04 11:22

Well, other than a pending Stephen King lawsuit, so I'm deep in the grad school process, and yesterday it's probably then the day that's had the most calendar alerts I've had in my life. So I'm just gonna paint a day in my life so you can kind of take a snapshot, and it should cover what's new with me in general. Okay. Alright, so I wake up at 5 a.m. I listen to several uh academic articles I'm supposed to read on two times speed while drinking coffee and having a shower. Makes sense. I head out the door to begin my commute, and I start listening to the next academic article and pestering my c colleagues on Discord like you do.

SPEAKER_06 12:03

Okay, just just one moment. Uh I just thought something that I think is is kind of funny. Um watching and listening to videos uh at two times speed or higher, uh apparently the if unless you really, really practice, it's it's not really practical to listen to more than four times speed. Uh, but it's become so popular that watching at anything more than two times speed on YouTube is actually a premium feature you have to pay for.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Anyways, carry on. So I'm listening to my article about the girl guides being systemically racist, like you do. I'm listening to my other article of article about Canadian euthanasia laws, because yes, this is what I need to be absorbing at 6 30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 12:49

I make it to the big union station, which now now it's finished through all the renovations. It's like also a shopping mall and food court. It's actually kind of really nice. Alright, alright. After fighting the intrusive thoughts to push people in front of oncoming trains, I make it through. Now at this point I have more articles in and I've learned that supervised playgrounds were a thing where adults watched like were paid to try and military train kids on playgrounds. I've learned that shockingly, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides are military structured and rooted in British imperialism. Who I'm against it. And I've learned that Yay, I'm gonna have a conversation about eugenics, gene detection, and use an agent today. That's gonna be fun. So I get to class, and then I'm like, okay. We have our talks about the girl guides. W people brought in a bunch of cookies. I didn't expect it about grad school. The amount of food we've just been given by like because it's on topic has been impressive. Like I didn't start the trend with baking gingerbread. It was literally like I will prof brings in candy because it's on Thiebe, and then like I can do this, and then it's like I gave positive reinforcement. So of course on Girl Scouts Week and Girl Guides Week there's cookies. Mm-hmm. So then I have to invigilate an exam, which to those unfamiliar means Well, for a normal person, it's watch make sure no one's cheating, handout booklets, right? For me, it's zoning out so completely that I'm trying to walk through the desks in the Pac-Man maze to see if I can remember from memory what the Pac-Man maze are structured like. And deeply fighting the intrusive thrott to Naruto run up and down the halls to see if anyone notices while they're focused on the exam. Like at one point I go for a water break while my colleague is watching the room, go around to the side door and like do a cat paw thing at the window just to mess with them. Did any students notice? I don't think so. And I definitely did like a couple Naruto handsides at the front just for no reason. So I individually this exam, which to be fair is important, decently paying, valid part of my job. So I have like 60 exams in my backpack. We then have a l flash lecture on PhDs, where they explain basically, yo, English PhDs don't lead to English professor jobs because democracy's clumb crumbling, fascism's winning, and humanity is being kind of like, I know that. Like, oh, well, why do you want a PhD? I'm like, you said you'd pay me food and shelter to be student. Yeah? That's why I want one. It's not a glamorous life. I'm like, I worked in a kitchen. Right, right. It's like, so what do you want to do after you get your PhD? No, no, that's not part of the plan. What do you mean, what do I want to do after? No, no, the the scheme is you guys pay me to attend classes and TA and teach, and then I use that to write my school assignments to pay my bills, so no I can continue to write my fun stuff. It's a perfect scheme. If you don't care about sustainable life and have low enough standard of living, where I'm like, oh yeah, grad school, I'm probably the wealthiest I've ever been, and I'm on grad school money with a book contract and writing some academic articles from time to time. I'm doing great by my standards, which means I'm still far below the poverty line, but you can see it now, right? Like my income now actually like matches my expenses. Like the other day I thought to myself, you know what? I can have Disney Plus for the next month. And then got a free trial to cancel immediately. So that way when the free trial meeting doesn't auto-bill me. Right, right. So after that flash lecture on a doctorate where they're basically like, Do you really want to do this to yourself? It drives people mad. Could you imagine writing an entire book over five years and like over five years? Yeah, I think I'll be fine. Right. Could you imagine? Oh man. I wrote two this year.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

But so then after that, we have guest speakers come in who are doing a poetry readingslash cello recital.

SPEAKER_06 16:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:57

And this person, well, I think it was like a classical bass cello. I'm not really up to date on cellos. Chat will come at me for this, that's fine. But like, it was his performing piece, but he was using every part of the cello. Ugh. So like at one point he's like running the to like make it sound like crackling a campfire, he's like hitting the bow on the outside wooden side of it while like flicking it with his thumb while someone's like fire crackles dissonance. And I'm like, you know, I really thought this talk was gonna be less engaging, because the last talk, though interesting, was a talk. Because it was like the guest distinguished speaker series. I'm like, alright, let's see what these distinguished speakers are about. It's like crackle, crackle, thunder, society, language, and I'm like, This is enrapturing. I am very distracted. My ADHD is appreciating that whenever I start to zoom out, you change how you're using your musical instrument completely, and now you're just punching the strings. What is happening? So then after that it was a member of our cohort's birthday, so we had to go well, I didn't have to go to karaoke, but I went to karaoke.

unknown 18:06

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Because it's me at karaoke, thankfully there is four microphones, which meant that I was never gonna be the only person singing a song so I could participate without the restraining order coming back on from use some unlawful use of voice. Right, right. Like my singing's so bad, it probably gives me Kurt speech powers. So after consuming enough alcohol to make karaoke work, after that, we go to a pub because this like local student-facing pub was gonna shut down next week. And at one point I have a realization. So there's 10 TAs slash various people at this pub, right? And multiple sections were running the same exam. I'm like, you know what's really funny? Over 200 students' exams are in this room right now, as we're like drinking karaoke. Because we don't have like a locker or anything. So I'm like an entire cohort could end up losing all their exams if someone too aggressively swipes over a jar of boo knocks over a bottle in karaoke at 10 p.m. Which is just one of my classmates, like cool good friend of mine, like basically collapsed laughing at the concept that you think about people with your tests and your security, your academic purity, and then all of them are just in a room as we're singing Highway to Hell. Like it was just such a good dissonance. So I get home about one in the morning, and then I've had a meeting day full of meetings today, and now I'm here now. Pretty heavily caffeinated.

SPEAKER_06 19:38

So that's what a day in my life looks like. You never did touch on maybe maybe I accidentally interrupted you when you were going to, but you never did touch on uh uh the fidget spinners and or adventure time playlist.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Okay, so a friend of mine has a 3D printer. 3D printers are awesome. Around a holiday last year, I want to say Christmas, but I don't even remember because time has lost all meaning. They gave me some like cool like interlocking gear, 3D printed fidget spinners.

unknown 20:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

And my brother broke his frigid spinner, it was so sad. So I messaged my friend being like, Can I have a new fidget spinner? We started talking about like what we should do for our next hangout session. And I'm like, you know, I'm feeling weirdly nostalgic for when I used to live with Carl. Make a curated Adventure Time playlist, because I've never finished that show, and you say I should catch up on it. We should order pizza, put Bailey's in chocolate milk, and catch up on Adventure Time for a weekend because I'm feeling nostalgic for my early 20s.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

And I assumed you would approve this message, because that's literally what we did.

SPEAKER_06 20:44

That's true. We did watch a fair bit of adventure time before I gave up on the show because I feel it owes David's welcome.

SPEAKER_04 20:49

Right, but not that it's complete like giving someone the idea of okay, you want me to finish the show, assemble all the key episodes, and intoxicate me.

SPEAKER_06 21:00

Yeah, that's true, because there definitely was a lot of episodes that really did nothing for the show.

SPEAKER_04 21:06

So it's less about the show and more about the socializing. Like, it's not a show I would binge in silence and take notes to look at the artistic merit. That's left for highbrow and lowbrow anime. Oh man, though, like for some of the like source text people write papers on, I'm like, man, I could really write a paper on whatever I want. Like, I'm working on ghosts in the show right now, but I'm like, man, I could have been so bold, I could have just walked in here and been like, why full metal panic is the most authentic deconstruction of the material military industrial complex in the 2000s. I could have like been like why Ryder Loot is a metaphor for the AIDS pandem epidemic or something. I mean, they literally give him a stigma and have like a full thing where he's like, You need to die alone because people born with your DNA are monsters and then that actually turns into a monster that kills people. Like it's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 22:02

Did they ever actually finish that anime? Kind of.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

So the anime was basically a light novel commercial.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

So the anime covered the first three light novels, and then they had a sequel series of light novels that have a different title. The light novels finished up last year. Okay. So the series only covered the first two out of like 24 novels. Okay. But they're never going to complete it, because it was really designed to sell the future volumes. Ah. Plus, not enough people liked it. For oddly justifiable reasons. Like, there's definitely a lot of awesome things I enjoyed in it. But also they started on a really weak episode for some reason. Like episode two is just a substantially better way to start the show. Because episode one, like, comes off as like a gag series, and then it like goes super serious episode. That's a whole thing. We could do an entire episode of Deep Space and Dragons, our other podcast, where we deep dive into literature and apparently are valid academic sources, not really Doside us. Shall we get into some some daggering and some hearting? Uh yeah, sure. So a few little dagger heart updates just because we play the game, might as well sponsor it. A bit. First, they don't pay us. We are not sponsored by Critical Roll, because I would be insufferable about it. Two, they do like to put out free cont playtest content in their void category, like they put out the Bloodhunter for Halloween. Okay. And Heroforge has recently did a partnership with Daggerheart to be like, we have Daggerheart exclusive packs coming out. But they're gonna charge separately for those packs, and fans got mad like you can just have them for free. I'm like, wow, good job, Heroforge. I like you.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

So, yeah, that's what's going on with that game, is it's out, they had a Kickstarter for like little class packs who your players could buy their own cards if they didn't want to share. It's interesting to me because my players. I don't have a problem GMing if they share cards, like if there's multiple people with the same powers. But a strong argument could be made that by only having one or two copies of each card, you force your players to play differently. And I think that's good to make it that your players can't have the same spell. Right, right. So uh doesn't matter to you because it's not ooh, aren't we playing with Nuzlocke Urals? I think we're playing with Nuzlocke rules now. Anytime I kill you, you cannot use any cards that were on the character that were killed.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

Alright, so with that, let's get into some daggering art. I really thought I had more like industry news I was gonna go with, but it turns out no. So to give a recap of the story thus far, and hype hop in anytime you think I'm wrong, or want to add in flashback deals to just change the story retroactively. It's a collaborative storytelling. You could just correct me when I say something happened, and that becomes a new canon. But remember, I will use that probably to hurt you.

SPEAKER_06 25:03

Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

So in the small I I'm hesitant to say kingdom, it's really more like a keep town within the fiefdom of Cobbler's Cove. You are given a mission to hunt down a member of the wildlings in the woods attaching the neutral territory run by King Elroy. The villain you were looking for, known as the Fein Wraith, was said to be attacking convoys, planning to overthrow the Empire, etc. etc. Not good things. The first clue you've been given is that a city several days south of Cobbler's Cove, known as Nerware, had up a magical barrier that kept a plague out at bay. But that barrier was having some issues, so you are going to investigate that on your road stop to try and find information about this fanwave. On the way, you find a small dirty peasant child named Lyra in a riverbank. After your hippo bear heroically sacrifices itself for the good of the mission. You have rescued this child and enter the city. Realize after doing an obscenely elaborate series of fake identity-related shenanigans, making your character the hardest character to track in fiction at the moment. Like, oh man, our inevitable animated series is gonna have a pain with how you did this. Manages to not have her go in a sack, but break in backwards through an exit dun an exit dungeon, meet up with the thing, get more intel, leave, fake your death, have your body thrown on a f fake body thrown on a fire. But you didn't fake your day, so you fake someone else's death, so now there's just great widows. But you fake someone's death who is already dead, it was convoluted as hell. Right, right, right. So eventually you find yourself to the next stop on your destination of Lyra's hometown, a place that no longer existed on any maps. After being tempted to steal a pansei of flower growing in the middle of the village, you realize that this was some revenues and evil shit and noped the hell out. Which is rare by the way. It is rare when I've I've been running tabletop games for about a decade now. People rarely just run from an encounter outright. I'm proud of myself. You got the hit. You're like, no, I'm getting it. I No, I'm out by peace. I think it's the part where the will comes alive and starts screaming at people that get them.

SPEAKER_06 27:33

Would they realize fame of dead bodies?

SPEAKER_04 27:39

Yeah, that was Technically the statues were petrified corpses, and it was the plants that were trying to kill you by likening and anting the situation. Uh aphid and anting the situation. Anywho, you do make it to Worms Hearth's Crossing and descend to the secret laboratory below it. Realizing there is a captive spirit, you set it free to do its vengeance. Hiding inside a floss bottom treasure chest, you successfully survived the destruction of the town, to be met by a few surviving mages. And at this moment you have a revelation of sorts. Your enemy, who you may have been killed to enable someone else to fake their death, may have been associated with the same chain of Imperial Mages that were trying to murder you. After an epic one-on-one water duel making the Naruto vs. Sasuke Valley fight to shame. In its epic choreography. Turn to previous episodes to check that out. You successfully lived. Now being alive successfully, you decide I'm not gonna go to this river where there's a bunch of people in boats with sticks looking for dead bodies. I'm gonna take the treacherous mountain route. You climb a hill. It was a very intensive hill climb. That was uh But once you made it to the top, a bird picked you up and flew away.

SPEAKER_06 29:01

And poor Lyra uh was on my back in her nasical basket basket. Uh and when the bird attacked, I uh I put down the basket so that she wouldn't get hurt. Uh and ended up leaving her abandoned on a mountaintop as he was carried away. And four weeks have passed.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

And a month has passed since then, and you've successfully found yourself in the treetop catfolk village of Alora. Foozed, brattered, missing some metacarpal bones, stealthier, but it was it turns out an ever-growing cancerous vegetation region. Now if you're just dropped in the middle of it, finding things is hard. It turns out if someone just ekesize you into a studio Ghibli movie, life becomes a lot harder than you would think. It's not like a compass is gonna help you. I say as somebody who wants I mean to for some context before you tell me about your navigation skills. When I was a lad, me and my mother went mushroom picking one time. By driving up on a road, walking down a dark trail to pick some mushrooms to bring home for food purposes. Edible mushrooms, not edible mushrooms, you get me? So it only took going off the trail a little bit for us to like become dangerously lost and her to start figuring out how we would make shelter for the evening because the sun was starting to set. So before you tell me about your navigation skills, just go out in the woods once first, Carl. Just literally go camping once in your life and then tell me how easy navigating the woods is.

SPEAKER_06 30:37

No, no, I I I wasn't going to tell you how easy navigating the woods is. I thought you were. I thought you were like navigating the woods. No, I was gonna say uh I that Leroy had some help. A a small amount of help. Not enough to actually help him find the his way, uh, but a small amount of help from the bone fairy, older brother to the tooth fairy.

SPEAKER_04 30:59

Excellent. And with that, as you find yourself in the city of Alora, having taken a couple days to rest, clean up, shave, you basically said, I am an imperial spy, and here is information I stole from the empire. You tried to lie, but you accidentally just objectively told the truth. Well, I mean I left out some details, but yeah. You have very much, very much betrayed your nation at this point. You have absolutely just walked up to Russia being like, oh, I just found these binders in Trump's bathroom. Anywho, can I have a sandwich?

SPEAKER_06 31:42

Well, I mean, I've got to ingratiate myself somehow.

SPEAKER_04 31:46

I think my favorite failed dice roll of all time, and I like put this out as our like social media clip from the last episode, is when you rolled, went to lie, and your badge just fell out of your pocket on the table. So at this point, you can gain the benefits of a long rest.

SPEAKER_06 32:03

Excellent.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

And at no point did you actually die, so I don't have to have you roll to see if you're permanently scarred. I think you're good.

SPEAKER_06 32:12

Yeah, I never took any severe damage, so. And what is your hope currently at? Uh, I seem to have five hope. Although I guess I should spend three of it to up my evasion for the time being, so. Very well then.

SPEAKER_04 32:31

And I am sitting at an impressive five fear at the moment. So with that, you found yourself in the treetop village of Alora. Natural shelter as the huts and bridges are shielded by thick vines and branches. A lot of like hand woven twine is wrapped around things to make a lot of stuff into makeshift scratching posts for easy climbing and scratching. And one thing you've known from your few days here is that there's hidden catfolk everywhere. You think you see all the catfolk, you look, you look again, and they're behind you. Like this place is well fortified. It isn't a hugely large population. Right? It's not like there's millions of catfolk here, like probably about a community of maybe 30 or so. There is also some non-catfolk. You do see a couple. Avian, some Fey. You do see. So, after being the Bone Faye, and you saw some tooth fairies, it took a couple days of to recover from your trauma a bit to realize that these tooth fairies are shaped like teeth. So they have little stubby legs. Made out of like the bone, like the roots you would expect of a mower are four legs, with eyes that look like they're you have cracked enamel of eyes peering out of it, and little winds of a sinewy bone structure like gum tissue. These tooth fairies.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Oof.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

So now that you find yourself in the city of Alora, you do notice that it's a very spiritual town. Like there seems to be various taboos. They don't really tell you about them, much like cats are meant to do. But like, you feel like these shrines are so strategically put. You feel like people in robes have higher rankings. But also, there is a lot of napping, a lot of knocking drinks over. And at this point, two cat folk have approached you. One is lean, a gray color, and pretty like muscular. This looks like a scrapper, like they have a box build of an MMA fighter. Like picture Apachai from Ki uh History Strongest Isabel Keniti, but a cat. Okay. And next to that one seems to be, well, it looks like it's hard for you to mentally gauge the age of a cat folk, but their eyes look wise, and they're like a pitch black cat with a white whiskers in a bit of a robe of golden trim. And then a much younger orange cat that basically just looks like ADHD incarnate, and the three of them are Rochi. Are they trying to be stealthy? No, they're just walking up. They're just kind of naturally stealthy.

SPEAKER_06 35:26

Okay, okay. Uh. Um, sorry, where am I when when I'm being approached? Am I like at the bar or like Ah, you tell me.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

Describe a place in the village I have not described yet for you to be hanging at.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Hmm.

SPEAKER_06 35:48

Um well Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I think um the the town bar is called the Crow's Nest. Um because it's at the like it's like a a platform on basically on top of the the trees. Um kind of like a ship's crow's nest, except for large enough to have several tables and uh serving places. Uh, because you know cats like high places and it's a good observation for anything around the town. Um and uh then also um, you know, there's limited exits, which makes it a good place for uh cats to approach people that they uh might have nefarious purposes for, who knows? Um and uh this town does seem friendly to ribbets, so I'm assuming I'm having some sort of um like uh bug-related alcoholic beverage.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

Oh, no issue here. Also catfolk aren't opposed to eating maple dragonfly pie pie in any meaningful way. They're fine with it. So at this point, the orange one, like, you look, look away, look again, he's right up next to you.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

Hi!

SPEAKER_04 37:05

Hello. Yeah smell weird, and then the cat runs away. And then the older one's making direct eye contact at you. Stares at your food, stares at you, stares at your food, stares at you again.

SPEAKER_05 37:23

Is there a problem with my food and drink, sir? It slaps you.

SPEAKER_06 37:37

What's the issue with your brandy here?

SPEAKER_04 37:39

You've been eating a lot of food and haven't been bringing a lot of food back in.

SPEAKER_05 37:48

Well forgive me for having a small amount of PTSD from being lost in the woods for a month.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

And at this point the older cat looks like. You have used our hospitality. And this is my polite way of saying it's time for you to get the fuck to work.

unknown 38:08

Ha ha ha.

SPEAKER_05 38:11

Well, do you have a job for me then?

SPEAKER_04 38:14

Well, we got a couple things that you'd probably be good at. Don't worry, I'm not just gonna send you back out into the woods. We're not the umpire here. So you can help stock up the food reserves. We got fishermen, we got hunters, we got gatherers. You could start performing some maintenance, help batten down some houses, queen, polish things up. There's a couple st uh concerning animals in the region you could check out. But really, like we're not really This isn't this isn't capitalism here, man. Just what do you want to do to help the community? What can you contribute?

SPEAKER_05 39:03

I see. Well my I don't suppose it's uncommon here, but my main areas of expertise are stealth and sneaking around.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

Well, we have a lot of that here. As they say that you just see like what looks like a chonky overweight bard that was somehow hiding in a tree. You just like see like his gut peeking out, it just fades back down the branch. You're like imagine if Jack Black successfully hid from you. You're like, I see.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

We're not saying no.

SPEAKER_05 39:52

These uh animals that you need taken care of. Whereabouts would you say they are?

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Well, so that's how we kind of do things here. It's like if you come back with the corpse of a scary monster, we know there's one less scary monster. I see. And I mean you could always like work some time off at the temple. They're a little less strict. And this is the gray one giving the advantage as the like darker one just still glares at you. That way cats do. Because all cats are sociopaths. Uh well.

SPEAKER_05 40:41

It's fair to say that I I have been using your hospitality without repaying it. Uh perhaps uh I will uh try some some fishing before I uh visit the temple. That'll do.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

And this point the little one comes back. Oh! In two days under the full moon is the full moon party.

SPEAKER_05 41:06

Hmm. Sounds exciting.

SPEAKER_04 41:08

Roll an instinct check for me.

SPEAKER_06 41:12

An instinct check?

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Instinct Sorry, instinct reaction roll. So hope and fear don't matter. I got a 14. You do see that the cat is trying to steal from your wallet.

SPEAKER_05 41:32

Not so fast, little one. Oh, you're good. Not nice. Not nice to repay your debts with someone else's money.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

It's funny because you're a freelancer, and then it runs away.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

So who do I go to talk to about uh this fishing expedition?

SPEAKER_04 41:56

And they point to the Jack Black looking tabaxi that now at this point is like halfway climbing. You know when a cat tries to climb? Cats jump up and climb up gracefully, but when they climb down it's bad. Real bad. Yeah, so you're watching this cat real bad climb back down. He seems to have a cello on his back and like a bunch of musical instruments, but a fishing rod is in his pack of things.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

Hmm.

SPEAKER_05 42:22

Thank you for your for your kindness. I'll I'll be off now then. The black cat.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

As you go to do that, I spend a pier as a black cat just stares at you and you gain a stress. Oh just just from the glare, just from the disapproving glare. You don't know what you did to offend this cat. Probably nothing, honestly. Okay. So at this point, you do see that the city of Allure, because of the way you came here, you came by fall there so there's a massive tree. Like I don't know. It's hard to like give the exact measurements of this tree. But it's a thousand-year-old tree. Right. And then at the base of it, there's basically a koi pond that encircles below the town. Which means if you like fall off one of the rope bridges, you'll fall in the pond, and if you don't hit one of the sharp rocks, you'll probably be fine. Okay. And you do see, like, if after like following along for a bit, that it's feeds from a larger river. And you do recall that you originally were found by two tabaxis who are fishing. Right. And one of them just like kicks off like just picture like literally one of those log rafts that's like five logs in a mess.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 43:37

And it's like Hi. You joining the fishing group?

SPEAKER_05 43:45

Yeah, uh I I would like to join. I I don't have my own fishing rod at the moment, though. Uh, but I I need to uh do something to keep my maintain my keep here.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Fishing rod? And he just points to like a bunch of harp. Harpoons.

SPEAKER_05 44:02

Uh I thank you.

SPEAKER_06 44:07

Thank you graciously. And uh I I guess I'll take a harpoon. Alright. Uh yeah. I I does it have rope attached to it or do I have to use my own rope?

SPEAKER_04 44:16

It has rope attached to it.

SPEAKER_06 44:18

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 44:19

Alright, so this tabaxi just kind of kicks off and the starts the pond the little boat with just the two of you starts heading down the river. Unless there's something you'd like to do.

SPEAKER_06 44:29

Well, I mean, I'd I would like to test the strength of this rope just in case this tabaxi's like trying to fool me with the crappy materials so that it all look bad.

SPEAKER_04 44:39

No, it seems to be pretty legit.

SPEAKER_06 44:42

Okay, okay. Uh, just out of curiosity, can I use my botanist extraordinaire experience to uh determine uh what kind of material this rope is made of?

SPEAKER_04 44:52

Uh yeah, go ahead and make a knowledge check.

SPEAKER_06 44:56

Knowledge and then and roll. A 14 with hope.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

It is made it's like a cedar and brasswood twine with like milkweed and cattails. Like it's literally they took a lot of various plants, stripped them, dried them, and wove them. It's pretty solid rope. Okay. It's probably solid. It's thicker and itchier than like the more like fancy silk rope you got in town. But it is a strong cordage.

SPEAKER_06 45:30

Yeah, okay, okay. So well, I mean I'm I'm just gonna sit there silently silently until the Tabaxi says something, or we reach our destination.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

Alright, so as you climb on the raft he kicks off, he just plays a harmonica and is like, We have to fish every day, d no. And you realize something. This cat doesn't sing in tune. And you're starting to realize that that may be the main reason that he's the only person who goes on the fishing expedition.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

Hmm.

SPEAKER_03 46:03

To find some fish dun.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

And as you like start leaving, you see a couple tobacco look at each other and just like, heh, idiot.

SPEAKER_06 46:15

Uh well, you know what? Actually, um is there anything on the raps that I can use as like percussion to like lay down a beat for him while he's singing his song?

SPEAKER_04 46:25

Oh yeah, he has like like the full Samwise Genji backpack of like pots and pans and musical instruments and things. So you're just gonna kinda play along then? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, go ahead and roll a presence check.

SPEAKER_06 46:39

Oof. Okay. Uh yeah, okay. Uh roll. Critical success.

SPEAKER_04 46:50

Clearest stress gain of hope as you're just jamming along. So as you jam along and get to the river, like to like it goes out to like. Long story short, he basically like takes a curve in the river to find himself in a more wide open. It's not quite as boggy as near Worms Hearth's Crossing. But you're definitely now past a narrow stream in what would be a more conventionally sized lake, like a Saskatchewan-sized lake, like not a real lake, like you can see the other side. But you're in a lake now. There's a few parts where like you had to like get out of your raft and like lift it up the two of you to like get back to where the water is wide enough to raft. But now that you're like see the narrow stream reading into this lake, there's like a small little like stone, almost like a temple coming out of the water in the middle of it.

SPEAKER_06 47:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

And it's overgrown in luminous algae as you're deep in the night cycle of the day-night. Right. As the moon's very slowly heading up where it'll hit the center in a couple days. Midnight moisture making the little stone artifact in the middle of the lake slick and faintly glowing. And it's raining ever so slightly out.

SPEAKER_00 48:06

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 48:06

And you're just kind of floating the sea, and he's like, I now that we're here to contribute, here's the plan. We're gonna break into two teams. Team A is gonna go for a quick nick winker. That'll consist of me. And team B is gonna try and catch some fish that's gonna consist of you. Good plan.

SPEAKER_05 48:33

Um I suppose so.

SPEAKER_04 48:36

Awesome. And he like lanes back, pulls a straw hat out, like puts it over his mouth, and just is passed out. One paw dipping in the water.

SPEAKER_06 48:48

Alright. Um the raft is now stationary, like, or is it still floating with the current? Or is there a current?

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Well now that you're in this lake, it's just kind of floating. Like it's like there's enough of a current from the like income stream that's like very slowly drifting. But you're like I'm talking like pool floaty drifting.

SPEAKER_06 49:09

Right, right. Um So the statue is covered with luminous algae.

SPEAKER_04 49:20

It looks less like a statue and more like the top of a building.

SPEAKER_06 49:25

Okay. And it is more like Can I uh use my botanist extraordinaire to try and determine like uh how many like layers of algae they are and kind of to figure out how old this building is? Roll a knowledge check. Knowledge check with plus two. Boom. Ooh, a nine with hope.

SPEAKER_04 49:57

Nine with hope. It's pretty old, it's stone, looks like an ancient relic. You'd guess ancient.

SPEAKER_06 50:06

Um so does the glowing of the algae allow me to see uh under the water at all, see if there's fish anywhere around this ancient.

SPEAKER_04 50:16

I'll say roll an instinct check for that one.

SPEAKER_06 50:20

Instinct 12 with hope.

SPEAKER_04 50:25

Wow, I'm I'm hopeful today. Much like looking in a real lake, you like occasionally spot a fish, but it's not like there's such a high fish density that it's easy to track the fish coming in and out. I see. I see. But it feels like it's hard to tell in this lighting under the moonlight with the algae. Like, you can't like super clearly see well, you kind of see a fish or two. There are fish. You're pretty confident.

SPEAKER_06 50:53

Uh well, I mean, I guess I'm going to uh have to try and harpoon some fish because I gotta actually like do some fishing, right?

SPEAKER_04 51:02

Alright, go ahead and roll a either finesse or agility to try and harpoon a fish.

SPEAKER_06 51:12

I'm going to roll finesse.

SPEAKER_04 51:18

Oh, 13 with fear. Uh-oh. So as you throw your harpoon in, thunk! You hit something. There's a lot of weight on it, like a lot of tension on the cord.

SPEAKER_06 51:31

Uh-oh. Well, I mean I gotta gotta try and pull whatever it is up.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

Okay. So, go ahead and roll s uh strength reaction roll for me.

SPEAKER_06 51:43

Strength reaction roll. Roll! Why you're not 11 with hope.

SPEAKER_03 51:57

11 with hope.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

So I'm gonna spend a few years. This is kind of stressing you out trying to fish out a fish.

SPEAKER_06 52:06

Okay, okay. Mark of stress.

SPEAKER_04 52:10

But manage to pull to the surface what looks like a pretty large flopping around bass.

SPEAKER_06 52:19

Um I assume that I can find a one of those billy clubs to like knock it out.

SPEAKER_04 52:26

You find a violin.

SPEAKER_06 52:29

Well, I'm gonna attempt to knock it out.

SPEAKER_04 52:31

So it's a boom! You see him like I just want a handful of trinkets. You caught a f yeah! Yeah, believe in you. Awesome. As you like, knock this fish out. And then what he does is he like kind of pulls out like a second wicker basket and like attaches it to the side of the raft and ducks it in so it's like a like a net that to keep like a fish cooler almost.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 52:59

You have gotten one fish. And it's been about three hours at this point. Most of it was travel time to get here, though.

SPEAKER_06 53:13

Right, right, right. Uh. So have we drifted any closer to the ancient structure?

SPEAKER_04 53:21

A little bit.

SPEAKER_06 53:23

A little bit, okay. Well, I mean, I'm just gonna I'm gonna make sure to throw my harpoon kind of in the direction of the structure so that when I pull up, hopefully it will drift a little bit closer. Uh, but yeah, I'm gonna attempt to catch another fish.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

Alright, go ahead and roll a finesse track.

SPEAKER_06 53:41

Finest to catch a fish. Twenty-one with fear.

SPEAKER_04 53:46

So, roll a uh strength reaction roll. Strength reaction roll. Critical success! Oh damn. So you harpooned two of these like colossal blue fin tuna, right? Ooh, nice. And you pull out these giant fish. At this point the basket's like three quarters of the way full, like this is like a good fisherman's haul. Like, yeah, this is this is a week's to two weeks worth of sushi you've got today. And your your comrade's just like he caught a fish banana.

SPEAKER_03 54:21

Look at him go to do do do. This guy's okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:30

But you do notice something at this point. Looking a little closer at that structure. Yeah. From the like towering moss-covered building, you see there's like a sickly blue flames just kind of dancing along it.

SPEAKER_06 54:44

Hmm. A sickly blue flame, huh? Uh, does there appear to be any entrances to this little like section of the tower that's above the water?

SPEAKER_04 54:59

You don't see any entrances to the tower. Above the water, to be clear.

SPEAKER_06 55:06

Right, right. I'm part frog, but I am not amphibious.

SPEAKER_04 55:12

It's true, but human beings can swim.

SPEAKER_06 55:16

Mm-mm. Uh, well, how close are we to the structure now? Like, can I uh would I be able to like make a jump to like?

SPEAKER_04 55:25

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_06 55:28

I'd say you are. Alright, well, so I I need to I need to identify a uh the least slippery spot to jump to, because moss is generally pretty slippery. Uh, can I use my botanist extraordinaire to find the least slippery spot?

SPEAKER_04 55:45

Because you already have botanist extraordinaire, I'm just gonna have you successfully jump from a boat onto a rock. I I think you can just have this one.

SPEAKER_06 55:55

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 55:58

Uh you have jumped onto a rock.

unknown 56:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 56:03

As he's like, whatcha doing there, bud?

SPEAKER_05 56:08

There's something unusual about this rock here.

SPEAKER_04 56:13

Yes. Obviously.

SPEAKER_05 56:26

Well, do you not see the strange blue flame here? W yeah, I'm not blind.

SPEAKER_06 56:34

Does the flame seem to be hot? No. Um Does it seem to be like the the work of a spirit?

SPEAKER_04 56:48

Go ahead. And make an instinct reaction roll.

SPEAKER_06 56:53

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_04 56:58

Twenty with fear. So the air tastes kinda funny. And you the fire doesn't hurt. But I don't know, the r everything's kind of looking a little It's like you've had a couple drinks.

SPEAKER_00 57:15

Hmm.

SPEAKER_06 57:22

Well, I mean I guess I'm kind of trying to jump back onto the raft.

SPEAKER_04 57:26

No issue if you make it back onto the raft. They're just looking at you confused.

SPEAKER_05 57:40

Well, I uh when I I spir it's the they they intrigue me. Uh I just really want to know whether or not this is a spirit in distress or if this is just a normal thing here.

SPEAKER_04 58:03

Oh well why don't you ask? Like, I come to this like all the time. I'm surprised they didn't ask me what it was. Yeah, you're looking at a shrine to the deity of Well, how can I put this? He's the one that when you leave the food out, it becomes alcoholic. F Ferma Ferma. The bubbly god! The demigod of bubbly you know, friend to the owl god, the demigod of bubblys. Who probably has a name of some sort. I can't really translate it. That's why we come here. Because there's fish and it's good for napping.

SPEAKER_05 58:50

Well, but I've caught several fish here. Do you think maybe we could switch roles for a bit? I could take a little nap.

SPEAKER_04 59:01

Hmm. Roll of persuasion check. Uh presence check. For this completely reasonable request.

unknown 59:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 59:09

Uh okay, I have nothing I can do to up this to a 13 with fear.

SPEAKER_04 59:16

I have a counter proposal. You can take your nap. And we've caught the big fish. You caught a couple small ones. Uh, cook up a couple of the small ones, right? While you take your nap, and then we eat them.

SPEAKER_05 59:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 59:35

That's that sounds like a good plan. Alright. Uh and I'm uh gonna lay down and take a nap.

SPEAKER_04 59:41

Okay, so as you're resting peacefully to the smell of slowly searing fish, this has been actually a pretty great day. This guy clearly, in true kitchen supervisor fashion, has no intention of actually doing work himself today. But he likes that you do work, and he likes that you don't give him a hard time that he doesn't do work. But as you find yourself dressing to sleep with on the cycly alcoholic fumes of what are effectively vodka-infused fish that grow naturally around this shrine to intoxication, and this shrine to fermentation. Not just alcohol, but like you can make sushi rice from the water here pretty easily, you can make kombucha. So it does seem to be the natural process of fermentation is governed on by a minor or major deity that lives below the sunken temple. But as your mind drifts away at night, I'm gonna tell you, ask you, describe the memory of the day you died.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:48

The memory of the day I died.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:53

Uh well, uh I later I had been in invited to the pub for for a few drinks, uh, and having you know a lot of fun doing karaoke chilling with friends, uh begins to stumble home uh when uh walking past a an alleyway that you know you'd walked past a hundred times before, and there'd never been any trouble before, but but this day, suddenly from the darkness, uh hands grabbed him uh and uh there's the the flash of of of a knife in the darkness uh as he gets stabbed in the in the chest three times. Um and as his eyes adjust while he's slowly, you know, as slowly uh starting to bleed out, uh, he sees the face of his killer. Uh but for some reason his memory of the of their face is hazy.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:55

Well, normally that seek occasion, but this time in this place, in this mood you're in, for the first time in what could have been possibly the last three years to four years of your life, you're relaxed, you're not being actively pursued, and a few things come clearer that you've never really noticed before. On the man's left hand was a golden ring, set inside it, a red gemstone, and it formed the pattern of an eagle. You notice that the man had blue eyes, and like the face was like looking in a mirror in some aspects, but it was almost like looking like the human you. Like it what didn't have the same like texture and slickness, the spots that can be mistaken for moles or fret frog-like, but instead lightly freckled, still piercing amber eyes, shaggy brown hair, and you see like two black lines running down from his left eye that were tattooed on, towards his cheekbone. And then your memory shifts again, and you think of poor Lyra on top of that mountain. You remember her face when you found her on that sandbar, and you saw as you were being grabbed by that eagle and looking away before you decided to play dead. Her hiding in a bush, making eye contact with you, reaching out towards you. And you notice something when you when you're in your dream, that when she reached out toward you, since you've rested, bathed, healed up, there's like a mark like the size of her hand, like a red handprint, grasping around your wrist. That won't clean off, won't come away. But with that, you wake into the smell of freshly grilled halibut. And at some point, this mad lad had broken eggs and breadcrumbs out of his bag. And managed to set himself up like a makeshift deep fryer, and you're looking at some like crispy, deep fried fish and chips.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:06

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:08

As you see, he has like three like arcane crystals circled around a glyph that has like a little bunsen burner set up.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:16

As he has like one of those like camping like coffee carafets, but it's being used to like hold boiling fryer oil with a little metal basket in it. He's like one of those like ridiculous Instagram videos of the person doing outdoor cooking. They have a cutting board and a machete, but they just keep pulling out increasingly more elaborate campfire cooking gadgets. And it's just like this is like the most impractic is like I went out in the woods and made deep fried chicken, uh deep fried fish. Like, why would you This is so excessive? And you realize something with like your passive observation. The reason he comes out to the lake of fermentation is partly to mask the if you were to just cook like this restaurant quality meal in the woods normally and attract anything nearby, but it's kind of drowned out by the ambient smell, because this whole place smells a little bit just a little bit like Singria.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:09

And then you see him do something peculiar though. He like slices off a piece of the fish, like a decent like fish chunk is like kisses it and goes to the woods that provide I return, and then just throws it in the water.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:27

Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:27

Like fully prepared, delicious meal, and just threw an offering into the lake. And then poured a glass of what appears to be like there's like berries and like mint leaves floating in this bottle of wine as he pours himself a glass, pours a little bit into water, and pours you a glass of like a fine malt cider.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:45

And you're like, there's a reason that this seems to be the chonkiest of the cat folk. The chonkiest Qatari in the village is making a lot of sense. Yeah. Alright. This meal is so good you gain a hope. Okay. But you do have a thought grip the back of your mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:11

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:12

You remember that you've been stuck with a bill as they thought they resurrected somebody else. You remember that you've like faked your death three times in rapid succession. And a thought that you just can't quite escape enters your mind. Is there a reason to continue your job? What are they gonna do? Like, send cops to the middle of the woods that took you a month to find this place? Attack the flying village of catfolk? Hmm. Like a horse isn't getting here. A catapult certainly isn't getting here. A ladder's not getting here. You had to be airdropped in. You could just blissfully retire with the catfolk.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:58

Mmm. But then I think back to the Leroy thinks back to the dream um that that he had, and he's thinking about the face of his murderer and how uh Elroy is still out there doing whatever nefarious deeds he's doing. And Leroy doesn't feel any particular loyalty to Haven, but he does want to stop Elroy from whatever he's doing that he had to fake his own death. At my at l at Leroy's expense.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:40

Alright. So after about like brunch is served, which is delicious, he looks at you and goes.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:59

Um so how closely can I mimic the uh offerings that he gave?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:07

He took a chef knife, slashed a fish, and threw it. But he did cook it himself.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:12

Uh yeah. Yeah, that's true. Uh, so I guess mm that might be out of the question. How how close are we to the the uh alcoholic fire shrine? You can jump to it still. Uh I am going to jump to the shrine again.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:40

Hearty chuckle.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:44

And then uh I'm going to uh Is it is there a space for me to like ball on the shrine? Not eloquently, but you kinda can.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:56

It's like it's pretty gazebo-shaped. It's like standing on top of a gazebo.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:01

Okay. Well, so yeah, I'm gonna find a place where I where I can kneel. Um and I'm going to place a piece of of fish in the the blue fire. Um. And I'm going to just like pray, like.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:21

Oh great spirit. Uh thank you for this daily blessing. We appreciate the the bounty of harass that you bestow upon us. And allowing us to intrude upon your territory.

unknown 1:09:40

Alright.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:42

Well, that's that's the extent of my prayer.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:45

The soundless flames don't answer your prayer. But you don't feel like you did anything bad here. You're feeling pretty good about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:53

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:54

Do you return to the catpoke village then?

SPEAKER_06 1:09:58

Uh well. So we ate like one of the fish? Yes. I do feel like I should try to uh replenish the fish that we ate. Alright, go ahead and roll a finesse check. Finesse check to try and capture one more fish. Uh eighteen with hope.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:19

No issue at all. So you've restocked the water cooler, managed to get the raft, picked it up, and like awkwardly walked it back to the river, and begun the journey home, having successfully contributed. So as you reach return to the city of Alora, they lure you into the food stockpiles. And you realize something. Despite them complaining that they're low on food, there's only like one empty spot of floor that doesn't have stacks of like preserved food and food stashed up. There's just one empty spot on the dish, but they're they're just so upset that there isn't enough food. Alright. So after like returning the still alive fish into like the koi pond below the tree, you realize that it's basically a fishery. So what they do is they catch the fish, bring them below the lake, and just kind of like stock them into this hatchery so they have the fish there so they can like keep them fresh.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:14

Yeah, makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:17

You returned. They this time they will pull you up on the mechanical elevator instead of like making you do it yourself. Hmm. And as you return, you do hear in one of the local taverns some heated voices.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:31

Ooh. But it could just not be your problem. Um is anybody looking at me?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:42

Hmm, you got a Keppelcat boat looking at you.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:46

But they've been doing that all week. Like you don't notice anything exceptionally different clear. Uh roll a instinct check. Uh reaction, instinct reaction roll.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:56

Oh, that little Khajit is trying to steal from me again, isn't he? Twenty with hope.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:01

Twenty with hope. You see a raccoon staring you down from a nearby tree.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:09

That's ominous.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:12

And you see that little Khajit is trying to put what looks like a piece of beef jerky into your pocket, trying to reverse pit pocket you.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:24

Uh I'm going to pretend like I don't notice.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:28

You hear that as it runs away. The perfect prank having been achieved.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:39

Um, but uh are there any shadows that I could walk into?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:51

Yes. Although the moon is getting close to being directly above you, so there's the shadows are less plentiful, but it is a moonlit town in the middle of the night with torches. There's a plethora of shadows available.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:04

Well, see, because these Khajit are are looking at me. Um so I would like to, you know, just like casually, um, like uh maybe pretend I'm a little tipsy still from my from the journey to the lake. Uh kind of stumble into a shadow, uh, and then uh use my um the shadow stepper ability uh to warp to another shadow so that I'm cloaked so no one can see me.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:39

Make a spellcasting roll.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:41

A spellcasting roll, which is finesse. Spellcasting roll Ooh, seven with fear.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:51

Alright, roll another D12 for me.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:57

Another D12. That is a nine!

SPEAKER_04 1:14:03

So you do realize that you are in fact slightly tipsy. Okay. And something about the like innate magic of that lake is kind of weird. Because you rolled higher than you would have. But it's like you roll two fear dice and one hope dice while you're still intoxicated. So you're more likely to succeed, but you're more likely to have weird side effects and generate fear. Oh. So how this works out in this case is you did manage to sneak into the shadows and become hidden. But I'm gonna go ahead and take my fear. Alright. So you're both blessed and cursed. It's debatable if this is a good situation to be in.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:45

But so I shadow stepped to another um shadow. Um and now I'm cloaked. And um I. Hmm. I don't see I would like to use my uncanny disguise to disguise myself as a as a cat person so I can walk into the bar where the where the heated voices are without being without standing out, but I have to. Okay, can I use my uncanny disguise to make myself look like that black cat that was just giving me dagger eyes?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:31

So you know that from your time in the town, that that's one of the high priests of the town.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:36

Oof, okay, maybe I don't want to be that guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:39

I'm not telling you can't or you can or can't. I'm just saying that you're familiar that that is a the that would be like I'm gonna hide myself as Zoran Mandabi today. Might not be the best strategy.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:51

Okay, okay. Um and the fat cat also would not be a good strategy because he's pretty recognizable.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:00

Um I will say in context, describe a group of tabaxi that went out hunting. I'll let you just invent a few tabaxi that you saw leave the village today.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:13

Well, actually, uh, you know, there's the those two fishermen that found me in the uh in in the woods in the first place. Uh hopefully neither of them are at the bar.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:25

I'll say you can tell me they're not at the bar.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:30

Um but one of them uh is one of those cats that you would name boots because it has like the the white paws. Beautiful. Uh and the white and a little like white spot on his on his nose, but is otherwise completely black. I believe the tips of his ears are also are also white.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:47

So as you disguise yourself as quote-unquote boots. No, I I'm gonna say that cat is named Boots. Boots. As you approach the tavern, you see somebody I don't recognize, which appears to be like an elven woman, but her skin is like a dark green with crimson hair and red freckles. And she is just fiercely being. And here's the conversation you catch. All you're doing is sitting out and doing nothing as the invaders cut further and further into the land. Were you really gonna stand and gamble against them taking the other eye, taking away this bountiful harvest? Just cause your fi gr kind can grow fat off the land, doesn't mean our people aren't being subjected to horrors. And then a mother catfolk's like, seems like a you problem.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:48

Hmm. Um, well, I mean, I'm just gonna sit down at the bar and and order a drink. Continue to listen over listening on their conversation.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:02

So you're not getting a ton of specifics, but you do notice that this elven woman is flanked by what looks like a ribbon assassin, like an actual name brand assassin.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:14

Ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:15

And seems to be like an incredibly jacked and tatted dwarf. And you're hearing bits about like how they're complaining that they took over Wormshearth Crossing, how there was atrocities there, how the Empire day by day is moving, and do you think Cobbler's Cove isn't just gonna spread until they've cut down every tree, turned every farm into a flower pasture, as they spread the plague that was bestowed upon them by the gods for their hubris. And you know, you can kind of picture what's happening here. Like, I don't think I need to give you the line for line to pick up the energy that's being put down here. Is they're basically being told that this village is profiting because of the never-ending spring is good for their kind.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:06

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:07

But it won't be long before Haven plucks out the sewing eye and has ownership over growth as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:16

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:21

Huh.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:26

Well, uh, and so who do the who does the elf appear to be talking to?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:34

The uh Tabaxi that you nearly impersonated.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:38

Oh, the high priest guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:42

Who you can recognize from the symbols is very much adorned and accoutrement of the lunar spirit.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:51

Of the lunar spirit. Makes sense why he's having a lunar festival. Hmm. Uh do I recognize any any of the accoutrements of the elf lady? Um go ahead and roll a instinct jacket. Instinct. Sixteen with hope.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:20

So their outfit kinda has like uh give me a second to get the specific details here. I don't want to mislead you. Okay, so you're looking at like so this elfin woman, you see they have like one of those like fan like, you know those like fancy ballroom masks, like the ones that like over the nose and eyes and wouldn't do shit? Mm-hmm. But it's pitch black. And their palette, color palette, is very monochrome. So like grayish browns with charcoal blacks. They seem to be wearing like almost like a cream and light tan bodysuit with like this overarching like gray and black color palette going on with like a fur choker.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:19

Like an overall earthy muted palette. So you would say they look like they could be three raccoons in a trench coat, then.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:28

Well, they're definitely wearing a trench coat. You know, I went so far out of my way to even be a little bit subtle about it. Did not work. Did not work at all, but yes. So after about an hour passes and their voices went less intense, and you see more shot glasses at the table. And you hear them just kind of go, look, listen, old friend. I know I know that the spirits are sacred, but I y I know you disagree, but if we can get to it first, we can stop them from claiming it for themselves. And it's like you would you would maim the one that watches over. It's like I know you have the key. Just let me in. Let me in to talk. Let me in to stop the overgrowth. As it keeps going, more and more people are just being lost to the woods. It took a month to get here. A month! Interesting. And they start talking a bit more about like you use the keywords like the curse, the petrified moving on their own, and that it's like the curse is because one eye is going, not two. And they're basically proposing that this cat, folks, let them into a place to take the other eye. Right. Which will solve the immediate problem. But the long term conse and the other cat the cat's arguing about the long-term consequences are not being considered, just as they were when Ha weren't when Haven invaded in the first place. The fate it's like you can't just because Haven stole one eye doesn't mean the solution is for you to steal the other.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:55

Hmm.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:05

Just this is the that seems to very very clearly be the Fein Wraith.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:10

I don't know what rumors do you have to check here?

SPEAKER_06 1:24:13

What rumors do I have to check? Well that the Feign Wraith is the spymaster's daughter.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:29

Go ahead and roll a knowledge check. Because you met Kern Dor, the Spy Master, at the very start of this adventure. And just see if there's like any like themitic overlap going on here.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:39

A knowledge check, you said, yes?

SPEAKER_04 1:24:41

Yeah, a knowledge reaction roll.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:43

A knowledge reaction roll. That's an 18.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:47

Hmm. So Kern Door, you're like you first go like, what race was this person? Tried to like start there. And you're like, Right. They were either human or elven, because they had a hood. You didn't really think to like check if they had pointy ears or not. That didn't occur to you at the time. Right. Their jawline's kind of similar, maybe?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:12

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:13

So you're not really sure how legit that rumor is. You don't have evidence to make no. This is impossible. But you don't have it's like you can't confirm it one way or another, which innately makes it suspicious. Like if you look at someone and they're like, you look like John Renan. Are you related to John Lennon? And they responded with no, but you look at them and like, wow, with those sunglasses and that hair though.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:43

Uh, hmm.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:52

Let's see. The only other rumor that stuck out to me from the interrogation was the three raccoons in a trench coat.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:03

Um It's hard to argue that they don't have a raccoon lay motif going on.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:09

And they are wearing a trench coat. So it's tough to say whether or not they're the Fainrant's daughter, or whether or not they're the Skymaster's daughter, or if they're just the raccoons in a trench coat.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:19

Or just a person who happens to be raccoon-themed, because if you're trying to like frame someone as you and put a bunch of rumors out about you being three raccoons in a trench coat, this would be a fantastic decoy.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:32

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:33

You rolled high enough for me to give you unhelpful information.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:45

Um, well, I think. Um. So technically, that's my second roll while disguised, so I do need to like. It was a reaction roll, so I didn't punish you on that. Uh okay. Well, see, I was gonna I was gonna say, um, I do need to find a place to stealthily drop my disguise.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:09

Okay. Um honestly no issue at all. You're in a tavern in the middle of the night, during a week of night, surrounded by cat folk who are just napping haphazardly, and everyone there is relatively drunk, because it this is a pretty you found a hippie commune, let's be honest. You found a society of cats that get to live in indefinite spring, with the long summer days for sleeping, and the long nights for sleeping.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:43

Um, but so um I uh now that I'm not uh in disguise um I'm going to uh casually approach her. I mean I know she has armed guards, but I'm gonna casually approach her. Um and say uh excuse me.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:27

But I believe that my that your father has sent me to see whether or not you and Elroy have completed your mission yet.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:36

Oh damn. Roll a presence check, but I'm gonna let you know something. You just made a very bold swing.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:45

Probably. Um, okay, can I apply my identity theft to that? Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:50

But I'm just gonna know if you're this is a gambit. This is a gambit and a half.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:58

21 with hope! Woo-hoo! That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:06

So this is an incredibly tense moment. So you go up and you're like, your f my f your father did you didn't name drop the father. You said your father my your father has sent me to see if you and Elroy are done your work.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:22

So here's the chain of events that happens. You see that there's three tabaxis that pull various crossbows out in different corners of the room. Mm-hmm. You see that the claws of the high priestess begin to like crackle with arcane moonlight. Mm-hmm. You see that the bartender, who is a large minotaurian-like person, just pulls a sledgehammer out from under the bar. You see the body the assassin frog has does one of your trademark shadow steps. Okay. You see the dwarven man pulls out like a guts greatsword off his back. You see the trench coat starts rippling as their eyes look directly at you. You have bought yourself one sentence before you don't know there is a lot of things that were just said that resonated. So actually, make an instinct reaction roll.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:30

Instinct reaction roll.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:32

As you have your Sherlock Holmes moment. Roll to three. How much hope do you have? Uh I'm full. I have six hope. I'm going to make you an devil's offer. If you surrender all of your hope, I'll allow you to re-hold this.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:56

Oh well, I I do already have my evasion upped from my thing, so. Oh no, I guess I only have five hope because I did apply identity theft, but.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:08

Well, I still the surrender all of your hope still stands. I wasn't fooled enough to give you a number.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:15

I will surrender all my hope. Alright. To re-roll that, because that is Okay. Instinct reaction roll. Let's see, it it statistically speaking, it won't get worse. Okay, that was a 12.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:33

So here's what you read on people from how each word resonates. So when you say your father, you watch her eyes and pupils. You're having a full-on Sherlock Holmes moment for the record. At the phrase your father sent me, her eyes narrow. A few people from your first night, including the bartenders, eyes narrow. From you walking in the room and speaking at all, they were already on guard. Right. From the next phrase of have you and Elroy, that is when the priestess began casting and the tabaxis drew their weapons as a trigger. In response to that, is when she started channeling something arcane, her assassin disappeared, and her dwarf drew their weapon. So the triggering phrases were your father spooked her, and then Elroy spooked Sakat folk. They reacted to Elroy being mentioned, and now her troop is acting defensively. And you probably can get out one more sentence before whatever piece of information you just casually drop, remember, you already gave documents and information that you yourself did not fully read all of. To these to b to these Katari.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:50

Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:51

Specifically files from a lab about in this holy city, you gave them files about how they were experimenting on spare uh spirits. And the name Elroy just triggered them. And you do remember in those documents the mentions of a faction working under the archmage to exploit spirits for power, how they stole a local deity and wiped a town off the map. This information has been given to these catfolk by you, saying this name Elroy is somebody who wiped a town off the map by stealing a spirit. And this person who's been trying to convince them to hunt down a spirit, you just said is in leagues with this person. This is what this is a series of flashbacks you have at this moment that burned up all of as all the hope fades from your body and you realize what you have just done. Hmm. You do have full action before things start to play out. Right, right, right. And you I will say you rolled high enough. You don't think the catfolk are going to kill you. Cause you've been here for two weeks. And it'd been mostly a positive force. Went out for a job. You also notice that Miko the Bard, who is the chonky tabaxi that was with you today, is like ha he's like staring intently from he's well, he's at the bar, obviously. And he just turns around at his stool with a face of confused Po from Kung Fu Panda.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:30

Dang it. Um boy. So the tabaxis probably won't attack me. Probably, maybe. The stealthy Ooh, the stealthy assassin, though. The stealthy assassin is definitely gonna try and kill me.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:50

Hmm. Um You could still use your words. Fighting has not technically broken out yet.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:59

Okay, okay. Uh well. Can I uh actually use uh being dead as an experience uh to now uh attempt to um dang it I'm not I don't have the Riz, but I I uh I want to pretend uh like after I said that that suddenly some sort of poison is kicking in and I start choking and dying.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:36

What?

SPEAKER_04 1:35:39

Um do you have So you're faking the poisoning. Okay, um Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. I will let you use the experience to make What?

SPEAKER_06 1:35:56

Um Okay, let's see if this I don't I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but a 14 with fear.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:08

Hmm. Alright, give me a moment. I need to look at some numbers.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:12

Oh no, I can't apply my being dead, I have no hope. You're right.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:15

If you had rolled with fear, you could have. Uh sorry, if you'd rolled with hope, you could have. So what did you get?

SPEAKER_06 1:36:25

Well, if I don't apply my thing, I would have minus minus two. Well minus also I would have got a twelve if I don't have my uh being dead application.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:36

And you don't have anything that gives you advantage on this that I'm aware of. No. So you got a twelve. Yeah. So as I pull up the stat blocks for the various things that are about to happen, because there's a lot of people involved in this, not everyone is fooled, I regret to inform you.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:02

Yeah, yeah, I mean that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:04

So And with fear, movement goes back to me, and I am obligated by my role as GM to play this out as fairly as I can. Right, right. I think I'm not lowering your anxiety here at all. I've almost added all the enemies I need to this encounter. Okay, okay. Because I wasn't expecting this to be a combat encounter, but here we are.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:33

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:34

Let's see. Yeah, I'd say that would be one of those. So as you like and fall to the ground. Yeah. Alright, rolling some dice on my end. So none of the big three that you're dealing with fell for that. Right. So the first thing that's gonna act is the Feinwraith is going to touch her pinky to her thumb, twist it, crack her wrist.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:12

Oh, I thought for sure she was gonna say skadoosh.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:17

So a patch of thorns wraps around you while you're on the floor. And you take 12 points uh oh, you don't take the damage yet, okay. You are currently restrained in a patch of thorns. Okay. On the floor. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:38

And I'm sorry, Carl, you might be dying today.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:49

That's a 20 hit.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:52

A 20 does hit.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:55

So the master assassin uses they won't see it coming, which allows it to do direct damage, which cannot be reduced by armor.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:06

And I could spend a fear to up the tier of the damage. So you take two. So you take twenty-two points of direct damage. What is your threshold? Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:26

Uh 21 is my severe damage threshold.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:29

So because of its subtle blade, won't see it coming, momentum and strike is one, you take four hit points of damage. Okay. As you're tied up in brambles and stabbed. Mm-hmm. Then the orc the dwarf walks up with its gut sword. Right. And sorry, I'm just trying to find where I put this file. Ah, here we go. And as the Doom Paladin that he is, he's gonna hit you with a judgment strike. Okay. Does a 14 hit you? Um Yes. Make a presence reaction roll.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:31

Presence reaction roll of 14.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:37

So mark a stress. Uh-huh. As he hits you with the judgment strike. So that is 18 points physical damage. Uh-huh. And describe the guilt and dread taking hold as you remember a broken promise.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:58

Oh man. I mean, I I guess I didn't really promise Lyra anything. But Hulky Dinah, do I feel guilty about just leaving her on a mountaintop for a month and a half? Uh, and the idea that she was now picked up and eaten by the giant eagles instead of me. Alright. Well, that's that's the worst.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:21

Okay, so I'm currently sitting at four fear remaining.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:27

Uh, did the judgment strike alright, you said it did 18? Yeah. Uh, so I could mark two armor slots to make that zero damage? No, you can only use one armor slot at a time. Okay, so I'm gonna make that minor damage instead of major. Only mark one hit point.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:46

Alright, I'm gonna spend a fear for the assassin to dump disappear into a shadow.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:54

And lastly, I'm gonna spend a fear as the bar table, one of the bar stools, and a lant and a coat rack twist and turn into life and become four foot-tall raccoon, sentient raccoon statues. Oh my. Yep. That is objectively not what I thought was gonna happen, but here we are. Okay. So I have to open the sheet for things on things on things. These are not units I thought I'd have to be using all in combat right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:35

Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:36

To our listeners' immense pleasure, this was going to be a political exchange. This was written for drama. So now that it's grown these trees, these tree and saplings, they immediately act. Okay. Does a 14 hit you? A 14 does hit. So I'm gonna spend another fear, reducing my fear budget at least. So I am burning through my fear like crazy, which is lovely for you. Bringing me down to two fear. Mm-hmm. And looking at that two fear, the saplings will use their group attack. So all three of them move into melee range of you who is currently tied in thorns to the ground. And they make a shared attack roll. On success, they deal X damage each. The damage based on the number of treants and their damage output. So you're looking at 24 damage. Holy. As these furniture just starts beating you. So you're here's how this fight went down. You're like, so you walk up and be like, your father sent me to see if you finished your job of Valroy. Vine's wrapped around you, thorn stuck up, slams you to the ground, as you were falling, an assassin stabs you in the back, you fall to the ground, and four pieces three pieces of furniture and a dwarf- Have you seen the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5 gif of the person finishing the wine and then just kicking the crap out of the non-stand user? Hmm. That is what's happening to you right now, effectively.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:08

Yeah, no, I mean that's that's it. I I've uh I've been I've been killed. Oh move. So you have three options available to you here.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:18

The first option is the first option, you can end the scene and leave things to the story's fate. The second option is you can roll. If you roll high, uh if your hope is higher, you get back up. If your fear is higher, you die. Or you can go out in a blaze of glory. If you exit the scene, I will remind you, you do have friends in this bar.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:48

Right. Uh okay, so sorry, my options are Go unconscious.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:54

Yep. Go unconscious and exit the scene, and you'll roll to see if you get a scar. Blaze of Glory, where you get an automatic critical hit. Or risk it all. Um, Blaze of Glory, avoid death, or risk it all are your three options.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:25

Blah blah blah blah blah. Well, I mean, I'm gonna risk it all.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:30

Okay, that's a choice.

unknown 1:45:34

Alright.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:34

Uh roll your duality die.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:38

Okay, so I swear, I've had more players die in this game where you kids just simply choose to not die than any other TPRBG I've ever read. Ah no! So here's how this plays out. As they jump you, just brutally, as you get stabbed in the back, wrapped to the ground, and stabbed five times, like. As a literally a coat rack puts its hand through your chest. Right, right. And you begin to fall over. You see screams, you see tears as your new friend, the bard, pulls out his loot and rushes into the fray. You see the tabaxi in the moonlight is a pillar of moonlight, shoots down from the heavens and blasts through the bar. You see it hit the side of the elven woman as she shapeshifts into a raccoon and starts scurrying away. You see the t the dwarf shot by six crossbow bolts and drops to his knees before the bartending Minotaur takes his head clean off with a swing from his sledgehammer. You the assassin vanishing. But as your last light begins to fade, you think of Lyra on the clifftop several days ago. And that's where we'll pick up next session. You are dead! Oh so thanks for the test run for so I'm running this in person in a week and a bit, right? Like next Saturday. And oh man, that was such a bold move to in the middle of their political meeting be like, you're out you're the daughter of an enemy and her ally with a war criminal. It's such a thing to say to somebody you'd haven't met. What's more wild is like the versions is where the Tabaxi imprison you instead, but it was the father thing, right? Like that was the one that made them have to do something. Because they're like, they could talk their way out of being paired with this person, but like that accusation is brutal. Right, right. So for context, had you chose to just drop to zero, what would have happened is I would have allowed you to roll some dice to determine this fight would have played out without you. And you would have rolled some dice to see how many of the tabaxi survived the encounter to fight away the Fein Wraith. Right. So you would have woke up, and I literally would have had you make a death move roll for each tabaxi that was named to see who survived.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:31

Oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:33

So you would have woke up, you would have probably had a scar, and you would have known that a battle took out between uh factions the factions broke down. But yeah, you just died. It wasn't like you tipped the scales, just so yeah, you did learn, however, that the Fein Wraith seems to be a dryad druid.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:59

And Well, Leroy learned that. Unfortunately, uh I am not able to convey any information to anyone else.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:06

Oh, you can though. So we'll give you a little piece of information. So, before you were separated by the Eagles, Lyra put a brand on you that allowed her to scry on you and watch what was happening with you. So Lyra saw all this. Ah. So whatever character you play next week, the session will start with you either finding Lyra somewhere or being Lyra. Those are your two big options. Right, right. So this information, at least an MPC knows this information. Yeah, okay. But we like to do our debrief at the end of these sessions. What did you think of this session of Daggerheart? The death of Leroy. Oh. Oh, what a beautiful thematic session, by the way. That your character's like, you could just retire here. You could live a peaceful life among the catfolk. For the first time ever you Feel de stress, and that's the day you die. Like this was your last day was giving a prayer, having a decent meal, doing a hard day's work, being a normal citizen, and just being brutally murdered.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:16

Well, I mean, Leroy's sense of justice wasn't gonna let him just um give up, you know, it's just he couldn't. I wish I'd rolled better on the uh fake my poison kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:34

Well, you didn't commit. So, like, you pretend to be seizing for poison, right? And they all didn't attack you. And you didn't choose the play dead move.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:48

Why did you try and get back up? Because that seemed like more fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:56

It's just so funny to me, because it's like, if you just chose the not die option, then technically your plan worked perfectly, right? Like you pretend to die a poison, you get stabbed and hit, and then you wake up the next day and they think you're dead. Like it would have been a perfect faking of your death.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:14

That would have been on brand.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:15

And the catfolk would have assumed you were poisoned. But you're like, no, I need to roll the dice. Because there's dice to be rolled. Okay. Um you could have just did your plan.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:32

Not exactly a uh uh flaw of design. But um firstly, the idea that it's you just you can choose not to die just feels like cheating.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:45

Uh well you do like roll to get a permanent scar, and if you get enough permanent scars, you're forced to retire. So I think maybe we should have pitched on that. Like, instead of being like you can choose not to die, I should have said you can choose to roll and take a scar. And when you get a certain number of scars, your character retires from emotional damage. Right. Like I should have like hyped up that you make a dice roll to get a scar, maybe.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:07

Well, I mean, even so, it it's just like avoid death, and it's like uh that's still like yeah, you get a permanent scar, sure. Like what what are the permanent scar options? You tell me. See scars section. Let's see what they have to say about scars. You do permanently get one less hope slot. You can cross out one of your hope slots. Narrative impact is the scar might be up to you, might be a physical scar, painful menu, deep fear, scars are permanent, can be healed by the GM's discretion, or as a downtime.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:40

Because for the record, for how you died, the scar would have been like the memory of this and like the hole through your chest from where you were stabbed.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:55

Ah, okay, so if you lose all your hope, then y that's when you die. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:00

Oh well, you retire, but so it's basically you can choose the not die option. And if you're unlucky, you can only do it five times ever. Makes sense. And the odds get of dying of memories of getting a scar get worse the higher level you are. Like the odds increase the higher level you are of getting a scar.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:24

Okay, so this doesn't actually say uh like you roll the dice to get a scar?

SPEAKER_04 1:53:30

Yeah, so I'll have to double check exactly how it works here. This is why I have a physical rulebook in front of me. But yeah, it's what happens is you roll Uh okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:45

Yeah. Roll your hope die if the value is equal to or under your character's level, they gain a scar.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:51

Yeah, so the higher level you get, the more likely you are to get a scar. When you get enough scars, you're just out. Also, once you fall down below like three hope, it becomes kind of brutal because you lose your class feature.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:01

Right. That would be pretty brutal. So like no, I I I enjoyed the session.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:11

Um way to call my bluff whether or not I would just straight up kill you in this live recorded session, but you forever learned that I am fine murdering you.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:24

I mean, I already knew that you were fine just murdering players. That's not that you want to murder players, but when they give you the chance.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:32

Well, I will say though, when the game says you can just not die, I really have no reason to feel guilt. Because, like I said, like in this situation, you would have woken up of the aftermath of the battle in a hospital bed to whatever catfolk survived.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:49

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:51

But it makes for a good story, because now, like, I said, one MPC saw this go down, who is a ten-year-old girl that you your next MPC will find. Right, right. Because that's like your only restriction, and we could do the character building live for your new character. Or we could, like, speedball it. And what level did Elroy make it up to? Uh Leroy made it to level three. So I believe we decided that your new characters come in one level lower than you were. Alright. So you get to come in at level two. Alright, sounds good. Not really to punish you, but just I shall let you just come in at level three. But what did you think of the session? Because we moved from me having like a pre-structured dungeon to me using the Witherwild locations chart, so it's like I have a City of Laura map that talks about the NPCs and the characters there. And I also had a environment block for I'm trying to remember the exact name, but it was the hollow pond.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:55

Hmm. Uh well, the the hollow pond uh was um that that was with the shrine, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:07

And it was basically the knowledge that you're at a pond, there's the f blue fire tree, there's a spirit of fermentation here. And you could have went and explored inside it if you really want to, like, treasure hunt. Like, I had my little dungeon planned out of it, had you climb down and decide to waterworld the dungeon. You had a little dungeon to explore, had some fermentation monsters you could have cleared out to make the spirit happy.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:34

Uh yeah. See, I was thinking about that, but then I was like, mmm, I can't actually breathe underwater, so.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:42

So had you asked the cat guy, he would have cast water breathing on you? Oh yeah. Because you're with a bard who has bard powers.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:51

Um. I don't know. Like that that section, especially all the times I rolled with fear when I was fishing, I thought for sure something was gonna like I was gonna like pull up a monster.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:03

So I deliberately avoided doing that because it felt too obvious. Hmm, you're right. Cause like having another sea monster attack you, I don't know, I kind of with how like brutal the last session was, wanted to like give you a chance to like roleplay out your trauma. Right? Like it you ditch Lyra, having your character do something mundane really kind of like builds that narrative thread.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:29

Hmm. Yeah, no, I I definitely enjoyed that, and it was like it was a nice reprieve from the brutality that was the last session.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:38

Because you had a couple intense sessions back to back. So I deliberately tried to make this a little more laxed with my cat village. Also, every catfolk in that village is based off an actual cat I know. Every one of them. That's funny. It's gonna be such a treat for my players when they get to the catfolk village in the week and like describe these NPCs as just each per because every person there has a cat that I can describe. Right, right. And then Miko the Chonky Bard is my cat.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:09

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:10

Who's largely unhelpful. And did not involve at all influence my writing of him.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:18

Picky bugger. But no, I I definitely enjoyed that session. Um I don't know, I I didn't really walk up to the Feinwraith having a plan of what to do next. Uh, and faking my death seems to be the the Leroy special.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:38

That could have worked. So for the record, had you succeeded faking your death, which to be fair, I literally used so I used the Dryad stat block for the Feinraith, because I had to find an appropriate stat block pretty quickly, because quite frankly, I wasn't sure until this session what to be, but so a dryad is a tier three leader. That sounds fair for the Feinwraith, right? Okay. So I picked her, and her DC is 16, because all creatures in Daggerheart just have like a universal difficulty stat. So that is what I used to decide what got convicted by your faking your death was their I looked at I grabbed a Dryad, I grabbed a Doom Paladin, and I grabbed a Master Assassin stat block relatively quickly on the fly to make up my little squad. Yeah. Which is funny, because the Dryad Uh I was I wanted a Druid, but they didn't like have an NPC Druid stat block that could wild shape. So I'm gonna have to like actually flesh out my Feinray stat block for real, because I haven't actually written up the Feinrace stat block yet. So I'm like, okay, this is happening. So like I use their improv guide where it's like, okay. Tier 3 means this is so because I I needed to make them as strong as you would have been if you fought them appropriately. So Daggerheart tier three is around levels five plus, right? So you're at level three, you're probably gonna level up after this session to four, and then the next one, and then like about three sessions away would have made sense to fight the fade race. Right. So that was the logic. I wasn't just bullying you. And then for the fight budget, the other two were tier two enemies, so appropriately strong for you. Hmm. So it was like mathematically the fight was relatively balanced because you did have allies. Right. And had you gotten a turn I was y you know the thing I do where I'll have like NPCs basically negate characters where I was gonna have the assassin and the bard get in a fight, the bartender and the tabaxis fight the one so it would just be you versus the Fainwraith effectively. Right. Is how I probably would have balanced it, and it would have been more of like a survival encounter because the Fainwraith was just trying to get away.

SPEAKER_06 2:01:03

Right.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:04

But we'll never know now. But that was like a little behind the scenes of me being like, okay, I need monsters now, crap.

SPEAKER_01 2:01:11

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:13

There was a point where I'm like, I'm like, oh, here's a stat block for an archangel. I'm like, that's excessive.

SPEAKER_06 2:01:20

Excessive, yeah. But yeah, there's like I don't um one of the funny things about this character is that as I said earlier, um their presence stat is minus one. Yeah. Uh and I just like I was trying to be stealthy and I was trying to blend into like crowds and do like presence things, and it's just like perpetually um even when I raised my stats at the end of last session, uh I I chose not to raise my presence stat because I was like, oh, I need to raise finesse and agility.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:59

Well what's really funny is for the playing a rogue, which in Daggerheart is like you get the literally it's split into like shadow powers and talking powers. What's funny is the spying on them went perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 2:02:12

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 2:02:13

It was the then interrogating them that failed. Because had you just simply like waited for them to leave the bar and then tailed them for a bit and tried to like just simply spy on them for a while. You could have then like went to the catfolk and be like, yo, listen, I think this is the fane race, here's my data. Right. And then the dice roll would have been how many cats can I convince to help me rather than am I gonna set off a civil war? But I like you You're one of my favorite players because you'll lean into failure, it is more interesting than success in DD. Hmm. Pretty evident by the fact you're dead right now. Is right. I know damn well you went out to confront them because you wanted to cause to you, it that wasn't the most strategic option, that was the most interesting option. Hmm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that I assume was your thought process.

SPEAKER_06 2:03:09

Well, yeah, it it it is um I waited at least twice to see if you would just let them leave and let me tell them. Uh and then the third time it's like, okay, uh, maybe I could try and wait it out, but I'm more likely to get information quicker uh and confirm or deny the rumors that I've heard.

SPEAKER_04 2:03:36

Ah, you cool. You you could have just said, I wait till they leave. That's all you had to do. It's a cooperative role-playing game. You just needed to say, can I wait till they leave? And I would have said yes. Would you like a drink with that? You got up, you overthought that one. You're like, this is not a video game. You don't have to like wait for the animation to play. You can just tell me the that you're buddy, pal, friend.

SPEAKER_06 2:04:08

I gave you two opportunities. You gave me spying chances. I was like, okay. Uh then the fastest way to move things forward and confirm things, and also it's just like uh they obviously weren't talking about Elroy. Uh so name-dropping him was also a way for my character to advance the lore that is actually specific to what his goals were. Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:36

It's just funny because like because of how you built your character, had you like left her a note on the table, be like, oh, I'm gonna like have the bartender send this note, and it's like what do you know about Elroy, and then watch the reaction as they read the note. Like, there's so many ways that I thought that was going to go. That was not, hey, um hi, are you To be fair?

SPEAKER_06 2:05:01

Uh my whole shtick uh was that this guy is is not a spy. He is a normal dude, somewhat normal dude who was forced into a situation that he you know is uncomfortable with, doesn't know how to be a spy, he's not subtle.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:19

Uh so you know what didn't occur to me at the time though? So in their like void content, I forgot that they added transformations a few weeks ago and one of them is to like come back as an undead. Oh. So I could have offered you, hey, do you want to be get take the reanimated transform card? That's true.

SPEAKER_06 2:05:44

Well, I have to keep that in mind for next time I die.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:48

The reanimated card and the ghost card. We're both like, in retrospect. But you didn't die in a way that how can I put this? You died so brutally it would have been hard to justify reanimating you. So, like, say your cause of death was you fell off the tower, right? Like she pushes you and you fall like, you know, like no body confirmed kind of death. Then I could have been like, would you like to take the reanimated card? Or the ghost card. Right, right. But being tied to the floor and beaten to death by chairs. This seems like, yeah, hard to justify how you were like. Also, I don't think the tabaxi for how you died are like, we need to resurrect him to continue his sacred mission. Right, right. I'm poisoned. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 2:06:40

Well, and I was kind of playing a like a triple agent.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:06:46

Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:47

Good job, by the way. You weren't a fake double agent. You did just go in and cause a faction of allies to split up for Haven. Like you actually did just successfully drastically advanced Haven's agenda. Drastically advance Haven's agenda. Oh boy. Cause like, yeah, you just broke up two allied factions that were having a war council meeting. And you died to do it too, right? They have no reason to doubt that you are sincere because you died for it. Oh man. Also, the first assassin being like, it does an extra threshold of damage and it's direct damage. I'm like, well, that sucks for you. How is that thing here too? Oh man. I was just gonna troll you by using your own shadow step shenanigans. That supposed my entire plan. Well, as long as you had fun and don't have to then go online and go to slash Reddit, my terrible DM punished me unfairly.

SPEAKER_06 2:08:10

No, I I think that was a perfectly fair. I had lots of fun. Thank you for for DMing Leeroy to his death, and and I guess next time. It'll be somebody. You have options now. Well, yeah, I mean I'd I'd because you could be literally anybody. That would be fun. So you're gonna do an on-stream character build then? Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:39

Alright, well, at least come to the table. Yeah, my one request is come to the table of a couple ideas. But the only plot hook you really need to know, and you can tell me when and where, is that you come across a 10-year-old girl. Right. It could be any location, any setting, but that's the only like set plot hook for your new character. Is for the narrative to have any cohesion, you gotta find the girl. Unless you can tell me like a compelling reason not, because if you're like, no no, I'm playing that jacked dwarf. I'm like, oh, okay. I I I'm not gonna clap your creativity. You really don't need the plot hook of the girl. I'm redacting that. You just we'll figure out who you wanna play and what would be the most Oh Lord, it'd be funny if you told me can I build the fan race. Can I let you do it? To be perfectly clear. That would be hilarious. Alright, well, let's wrap up here.

SPEAKER_06 2:09:37

Thanks again for listening, everyone. Uh and thank you, Richard, for DMing a fun session in character.

SPEAKER_04 2:09:44

If the session proved anything, it's that we don't script our episodes. Bye. Bye. Play around materials on itch.io woo!